CAPTURE  OF  FREDERICK  THE   HANDSOME  AT  MUEHLBERG 

Germany,  Frotttitfitc*,  vol.  t 


GERMANY 


FROM  THE 


EARLIEST  PERIOD 


TRANSLATED    FROM    THE    FOURTH    GERMAN    EDITION 

By  MRS.  GEORGE  HORROCKS 

>7ITH    A    SUPPLEMENTARY    CHAPTER    OF    RECENT    EVENTS 

By  EDGAR  SALTUS 


VOLUME  I 


NEW  YORK 

PETER  FENELON  COLLIER 

MDCCCXC1X 


Stack 
Annex 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


GERMANY 


VOL.  I. 

Frontispiece — Capture  of  Frederick  the  Handsome  at  Muehlberg 
Nuremberg   .         .         .  .         .         .         .         . 

Cologne  .  


THE    HISTORY    OF   GERMANY 


FIRST  PERIOD 
HEATHEN    ANTIQUITY 


PART  I 

ORIGIN    AND    MANNERS    OF    THE    ANCIENT 
GERMANS 

I.    The  Primitive  Forests  of  Germany 

BEFORE  Germany  was  peopled,  the  country  appears  to 
have  been  almost  entirely  covered  with  primitive  for- 
ests. When  the  Romans,  not  long  before  the  birth 
of  Christ,  became  acquainted  with  these  regions,  they  already 
contained  a  numerous  population,  although  at  that  period 
but  little  of  the  ancient  forests  seems  to  have  been  cleared 
away ;  according  to  their  account,  the  great  Hercinian  For- 
est then  extended  from  the  Black  Forest  across  the  whole 
of  Germany,  and  the  inhabitants,  a  mere  hunter-race,  only 
practiced  the  arts  of  husbandry  when  driven  by  extreme 
necessity.  The  forests  were  held  sacred,  and  temples  were 
erected  on  consecrated  lakes,  hidden  in  their  secluded  depths 
unprofaned  by  the  hand  of  man.  Similar  sacred  groves 
were  found  by  Herodotus  in  the  country  of  the  Budini  to 
the  north  of  the  Black  Sea,  and  they  were  introduced  by 
Hyperboreans  into  Greece;  for  instance,  the  sacred  grove 
of  Delphi,  the  famous  Grecian  oracle.  In  northern  mythol- 
ogy, the  ash  tree  (ygdrasill)  is  emblematical  of  the  whole 
earth,  and  the  first  men,  esche,  ash,  and  erle,  alder,  also 
take  their  names  from  trees;  hence  particular  trees  were 

(6) 


6  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

held  sacred  throughout  Germany,  nor  has  this  ancient 
veneration  yet  entirely  passed  away. 

The  Romans  regarded  the  forests  of  Germany  with  super- 
stitious dread.  There  were  said  to  be  gigantic  trees  which, 
when  hollowed  into  boats,  held  thirty  men,  and  through  the 
arches  formed  by  their  projecting  roots  a  horseman  could 
ride  at  full  speed.  The  buffalo,  the  bison,  and  the  elk,  once 
numerous  in  these  wilds,  have  now  totally  disappeared ;  and 
the  bears,  whose  skins  were  the  chief  article  of  the  dress  of  our 
forefathers,  the  wolves,  boars,  and  innumerable  other  large 
game,  daily  become  more  scarce.  The  country  possessed 
neither  towns,  roads,  nor  bridges,  and  it  is  easily  conceivable 
that,  dissatisfied  with  their  meager  forest  fare,  the  people 
continually  migrated  to  and  took  possession  of  the  fruitful 
lands  of  neighboring  nations.  Solitude  created  a  desire,  or 
romantic  longing,  in  the  breast  of  the  ancient  inhabitant 
of  these  wilds,  for  what  was  distant  and  unknown,  while  the 
habits  of  the  chase  rendered  him  enterprising  and  hardy. 
The  laws  founded  upon  personal  freedom,  the  virtuous  man- 
ners and  cheerful  temperament  of  the  ancient  German,  orig- 
inated in  those  mighty  wastes,  where,  forced  to  trust  to  his 
own  resources,  man  necessarily  became  independent,  and 
was  secure  from  the  corruption  incidental  to  crowded  com- 
munities. These  wild  forests  also  attached  an  idea  of  the 
marvelous,  so  novel  to  the  Romans,  to  the  character  of 
the  German,  who,  trained  to  war  by  the  habits  of  the  chase, 
associated  piety  with  ferocity,  and  would  still  listen  to  the 
secret  voice  of  Nature  in  the  mysterious  whisperings  of  the 
forest,  now  disposing  him  to  deep  musings,  now  creating 
strange  forebodings,  which  were  recognized  as  true  prophetic 
inspiration  in  the  women  and  maidens. 

When  Germany  was  first  Christianized,  the  monks  under- 
took to  clear  away  the  forests  and  to  promote  agriculture, 
and  as  the  migrations  had  then  ceased,  those  of  the  inhabi- 
tants who  had  remained  in  the  country  were  gradually  forced 
by  necessity  to  exchange  the  life  of  the  hunter  for  that  of  the 
peasant.  Yet,  notwithstanding  this,  and  the  great  increase 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS          7 

of  population  during  succeeding  centuries,  a  very  consider- 
able portion  of  these  primitive  forests  still  remains,  and  the 
stranger,  who  for  the  first  time  visits  our  country,  still  won- 
ders at  their  extent ;  nor  have  the  great  union  of  states  and 
the  customs  of  city  life  been  able  to  eradicate  the  ancient 
forest  freedom,  the  love  of  nature,  and  the  loyal  character 
of  our  ancestors. 

II.    Origin  of  the  Germans 

WHO  first  trod  the  sacred  forest?  who  for  the  first  time 
rested  beneath  the  shade  of  the  German  oak?  The  earliest 
account  of  the  German  people  is  very  obscure.  Civilized 
nations,  distinguished  by  mighty  deeds,  had  already  long 
dwelt  on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  while  our  north- 
ern land  was  still  unknown.  History,  though  still  in  its 
infancy,  already  recorded  the  vicissitudes  of  empires,  while 
in  our  dark  forests  legendary  lore  still  held  its  superstitious 
reign.  Already  had  the  sages  of  the  East  taught  wisdom 
beneath  the  palm,  the  merchants  of  Phoenicia  and  Carthage 
weighed  anchor  and  spread  their  purple  sails  on  the  distant 
ocean,  the  Greek  beautified  the  earth  with  magic  art,  and 
the  Roman  founded  his  colossal  and  iron  despotism,  while 
the  German,  ignorant  and  naked,  was  still  reigning  undis- 
turbed over  the  denizens  of  the  wild.  The  first  authentic 
account  of  the  Germans  dates  scarcely  a  century  before  the 
birth  of  Christ,  when  the  Romans  first  came  in  conflict  with 
them.  Before  this  period,  their  history  is  mere  legendary 
fable,  which,  however,  a  peculiar  character  pervades.  From 
this  epoch  the  southern  nations  regarded  them  as  a  free  and 
warlike  nation.  It  has  been  attempted  to  unravel  the  gene- 
alogy of  nations  by  referring  them  to  the  first  book  of  Moses ; 
and  sometimes  Gomer  (Cimbri),  with  his  sons,  Ashkenaz 
(the  Saxon  Ascan),  Riphath  (the  Frankish  Ripuarii),  and 
Togarmah  (Germanii);  sometimes  Aram  (Irmin,  Hermi- 
ones),  with  his  sons,  Uz  (the  Asiatics),  Hul  or  Chul  (the 
Gauls),  Gethen  (Geten  or  Goths),  and  Masch  (Massagetse), 


b  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMAN! 

have  been  supposed  to  be  the  ancestors  of  the  German  tribes ; 
but  these  are  mere  nomenclatory  hypotheses,  by  which  we 
can  arrive  at  no  certainty.  To  this  class  also  belongs  the 
derivation  of  the  Nibelungen  from  Niphilim. 

There  are  clearer  indications  of  an  eastern  origin,  and 
traces  of  an  affinity  between  our  language  and  that  of  ancient 
India  are  still  perceivable.  "Wodan,  who  was  worshiped  by 
the  Germans  as  the  father  of  the  gods,  is  the  Indian  Buddha, 
the  father  of  the  twelve  Diti,  who,  for  a  thousand  years, 
fought  against  the  Indian  gods,  and  were  driven  into  exile. 
Many  are  of  opinion  that  Buddha  was  the  most  ancient  and 
the  only  god  of  the  Indians,  until  the  religion  of  Brahma, 
together  with  the  division  into  castes  (hereditary  privileges), 
was  introduced,  and  the  Brahmins,  or  caste  of  priests, 
usurped  the  whole  authority.  It  is  certain  that,  after  this, 
the  lower  castes  rebelled  against  the  priests,  and  chose  a  new 
Buddha  for  their  god,  who  is  still  worshiped  in  some  parts 
of  India.  From  the  warlike  castes,  who  thence  migrated 
northward,  may  have  sprung  those  brave  and  warlike  na- 
tions met  with,  at  a  later  period,  hi  the  north,  as  worshipers 
of  Wodan,  or  Odin,  from  whom  the  German  tribes  trace 
their  descent.1 

In  the  oldest  records  of  the  German  language,  the  Anten 
or  Inten  are  often  spoken  of  as  an  ancient  nation,  and  par- 
ticular buildings  and  weapons  are  mentioned  as  ''works  of 
the  Anten."  The  word  is  also  traceable  in  the  names  of 
places  and  people — Ant,  Ango,  Ent,  Eng,  Int,  Intto,  Indo — 
and  India,  in  the  German  of  the  Middle  Ages,  is  written 
Endia.  See  Mone's  Derivations.  The  Grecian  fable  of 
Deucalion.  Deucalion  and  his  wife  Pyrrha  alone  survived 

1  The  Grecian  fable  of  the  Titana  is  somewhat  similar.  Chronos  and  the 
twelve  Titans  fought  against  Jupiter  and  the  younger  gods,  and  were  destroyed 
by  the  thunderbolts  of  Jove.  Chronos  fled  to  Boreas  in  the  Caucasus,  whose 
highest  mountain  still  bears  the  name  of  Elboreas.  Prometheus,  the  eldeit 
of  the  Titans,  who  stole  the  fire  from  heaven,  was  chained  by  offended  Jupi- 
ter, for  a  thousand  years,  to  the  rocks  of  the  Caucasus.  The  nations  that,  in 
the  third  century  after  Christ,  under  the  name  of  Zenones,  issued  from  the  inte- 
rior of  Germany,  and  crossing  the  Danube  overran  Italy  and  Greece,  were  called 
by  the  Greeks,  "The  descendants  of  the  Titans." 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS          9 

the  flood.  They  threw  stones  behind  them,  whence  sprang 
a  new  race  of  men,  the  Heraclidian  wanderers,  who  peopled 
the  country  to  the  west  of  the  Caucasus.  To  this  many 
German  legends  bear  resemblance.  Tacitus  heard,  from  the 
Germans  on  the  Rhine,  that  the  common  ancestor  of  then- 
people  was  called  Thuisko  or  Thuisto,  and  sprang  out  of  the 
earth.  His  son,  Mammus,  had  three  sons,  from  whom  the 
principal  tribes  of  Germany,  the  Ingavones,  Hermiones,  and 
Istavones,  sprang.  According  to  Pliny,  the  Cauci,  Chaubi, 
or  Chauci  (from  Caucasus),  whom  we  meet  with  later  as  the 
Saxons,  belong  to  the  first.  But  the  ancient  Saxons  had  a 
legend  that  their  nation,  with  their  first  king  Ascan  (per- 
haps Asian  Khan,  or  Prince  of  Asia),  originally  sprang  from 
the  Harz  Mountains.  According  to  an  old  legend  of  the 
north,  Buri,  the  father  of  the  Asiatics,  was  licked  out  of  a 
rock  of  salt  by  the  sacred  cow.  With  this  agrees  the  north- 
ern legend,  mentioned  by  Snorri,  concerning  the  migration 
of  the  Asiatics,  whose  progenitor,  Buri,  dwelt  at  Asgard 
(Boreas  in  the  Caucasus).  His  son,  Bor,  had  three  sons, 
Wile,  We,  and  Odin  (Wodan).  The  last,  being  driven  by 
the  gods  out  of  the  country,  wandered  through  Gardaric 
(Russia)  and  Saxony  to  Sweden,  where  he  founded  Sigtuna 
(Upsala),  as  his  new  seat  of  government. 

Other  accounts  of  migrations  seem  to  own  a  different 
origin.  The  chronicler,  Hunibald,  describes  the  Franks  as 
fugitives,  who  wandered  as  far  as  the  Rhine  after  the  de- 
struction of  Troy,  and  who  there  founded  Zante  (so  called 
from  the  Trojan  river  Zanthus).  The  old  Saxon  chroniclers 
ascribe  the  origin  of  the  Saxons  to  deserters  from  the  army 
of  Alexander  the  Great,  who  fled  to  the  country  of  Hadel. 
They  have  even  discovered  an  affinity  between  the  wander- 
ings of  Ulysses  and  of  tineas  after  the  fall  of  Troy  and  the 
god  Odin,  and  between  his  son,  the  first  Saxon  leader, 
Ascan,  and  Ascanius,  the  son  of  ^3£neas.  The  legends  of 
Hercules,  who  is  said  to  have  visited  Germany,  and  to  have 
been  honored  there  as  a  god,  are  even  more  obscure. 


10  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

III.    The  Dark  Ages 

THOSE  tribes  which,  at  a  later  period,  were  classed  under 
the  general  name  of  "Germans,"  were  formerly  known  un- 
der separate  names,  and  it  is  now  impossible  to  distinguish 
them  exactly  from  each  other. — According  to  the  earliest 
accounts  of  the  Greeks,  the  Scythians,  a  simple-mannered 
and  brave  people,  divided  into  several  tribes,  dwelt  to  the 
north  of  the  Black  Sea.  It  has  been  supposed  that  their 
name  signifies  "marksmen,"  and  that  they  were,  if  not  all, 
at  least  partly,  Germans.  Neither  the  Persian  kings,  nor 
Alexander  the  Great,  were  able  to  subdue  them.  The 
Greeks  named  the  northern  nations,  on  the  other  side  of 
the  great  chain  of  mountains  extending  from  Caucasus,  by 
Haemus,  to  the  Alps,  and  dividing  the  south  from  the  north 
of  Europe,  Hyperboreans,  i.e.,  people  who  dwelt  beyond 
the  abode  of  Boreas  (the  north  wind).  They  also  regarded 
them  as  "the  most  long-lived  and  the  most  just  among 
mankind." 

Somewhat  later  we  hear  of  the  Celts.  They  were  sup- 
posed to  dwell  to  the  west  of  the  Scythians,  and  the  inter- 
mediate nation  was  named  Celto  Scythian.  Their  name  has 
been  sometimes  supposed  to  signify  "Heroes,"  and  they  are 
described  as  being  extremely  brave.  The  most  remarkable 
of  the  Celtic  tribes  were  the  Cimmerii  or  Cimbri,  who,  mi- 
grating from  the  far  west,  from  England  and  Denmark, 
where  traces  of  them  have  been  discovered,  invaded  Asia 
Minor  and  Italy.  Their  name  was  supposed  to  signify 
"Warrior." 

I  do  not  venture  to  quote  the  numerous  legends  of  these 
northern  tribes;  in  the  first  place,  because  they  are  merely 
a  confused  heap  of  religious  notions  and  historical  facts;  in 
the  second,  because  they  have  been  only  handed  Jown  to  us 
by  strangers,  or  by  poets,  those  patrons  of  the  marvelous; 
and  thirdly,  because  it  is  impossible  to  distinguish  how  much 
is  essentially  German  in  the  legends  of  the  Scythians,  the 
Hyperboreans,  the  Celts,  and  the  Cimbri. 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS        11 

Under  the  name  of  Scythian  are  evidently  comprehended 
not  only  the  German,  but  also  the  Slavonian  and  Tartar 
races,  now  dwelling  eastward  of  us. 

To  the  Hyperboreans  apparently  belonged,  not  only  the 
German,  but  also  the  Finnish  races  in  Lapland,  Finland, 
Courland,  Esthonia,  Livonia,  and  Lithuania,  who  were 
driven  by  the  Germans  to  the  icy  northern  cape,  and  to  the 
rocky  inlets  of  the  Baltic. 

Although  there  were  many  tribes  that,  notwithstanding 
their  German  origin,  were  generally  comprised  under  the 
name  of  Celti,  yet  this  name  in  reality  belongs  to  another 
and  a  perfectly  distinct  nation,  that  migrated  at  an  earlier 
period,  and  of  whose  peculiar  language  slight  indications 
may  still  be  traced  in  Scotland,  Ireland,  Wales,  and  Brit- 
tany. The  Gauls,  the  Gaelic  and  Welsh  tribes,  are  the 
people  whom  we  now  commonly  designate  Welschen,  Ital- 
ians. Along  the  course  of  the  Danube  there  are  places  that 
still  retain  their  ancient  Gallic  names,  none  of  which  are  to 
be  met  with  further  north.  The  Cimmerii  who  dwelt  in 
England,  the  Ambrones  on  the  Rhone,  the  Umbri  in  Italy, 
were  all  apparently  of  Gaelic  origin;  and  yet  the  Cimbri, 
conjointly  with  the  Teutones,  who  dwelt  at  the  mouths  of 
the  Elbe,  and  migrated  into  Italy,  were  apparently  of  pure 
German  descent,  and  the  Sicambri  are  well  known  to  have 
been  German  Franks. 

The  Greeks  never  distinguished  the  German  tribes  from 
their  neighbors  by  any  particular  name,  and  it  was  not  until 
after  the  birth  of  Christ  that  they  are  mentioned  under  the 
new  name  of  Germani  by  the  Romans.  The  Latin  word 
Germanus  means  brother,  but  the  word  may  also  be  a 
German  one,  and  signify  a  warrior,  by  which  a  number 
of  secondary  meanings  are  admissible,  for  instance,  guerre, 
war;  ger,  a  lance;  heer,  an  army;  ehre,  honor;  gewehr, 
security. 

These  Latin  names  were  again  lost  amid  the  migrations 
of  nations,  when  the  Roman  empire  fell.  Then  innumerable 
new  names  appear,  but  no  general  designation,  so  that  it  is 


12  THE   HISTORY    OF   GERMANY 

matter  of  doubt  whether  several  tribes  belonged  to  the  Ger- 
man or  Slavonian  nations.  After  the  great  irruptions  of  the 
different  tribes,  many  of  the  lesser  ones  disappeared,  and 
were  comprehended  under  the  common  designations  of  Goths, 
Franks,  Bavarians,  Germans,  Thuringians,  Burgundians, 
Longobardi,  Angli,  Saxons,  Danes,  Swedes,  and  Norwe- 
gians. It  was  not  until  the  reign  of  Charlemagne  that  all 
these  nations  received  the  general  denomination  of  Germans. 
The  word  Thiot,  Diet,  in  the  old  German  tongue,  signifies 
the  people.  Before  the  time  of  Charlemagne,  the  Germans 
did  not  compose  one  nation,  but  were  divided  into  distinct 
communities,  allied  by  common  descent,  but  politically  inde- 
pendent of  each  other;  so  that  they  could  not  be  classed 
under  one  name  until  they  formed  one  nation. 

IV.   The  Division  of  the  Germans  into  Separate  Tribes 

THE  bond  by  which  the  different  nations  of  Germany 
were  united,  was  formerly,  as  now,  of  very  frail  tenure, 
and  even  when  drawn  closer  was  ever  liable  to  sever.  The 
reason  obviously  lies  in  the  national  character,  which,  of  too 
expansive  a  nature  ever  to  be  uniform,  displays  an  infinite 
variety  of  striking  peculiarities,  differing  according  to  the 
natural  bias  of  the  individual;  hence,  in  ancient  times,  the 
unalterable  love  of  freedom,  and  the  wild  chivalric  spirit 
which  animated  our  forefathers,  who,  equally  independent 
and  regardless  of  their  native  country,  achieved  single- 
handed  the  most  daring  exploits;  hence,  in  our  times,  the 
extraordinary  variety  of  talented  individuals  engaged  in 
intellectual  warfare  as  zealously  as  the  German  in  times 
of  yore  in  bodily  combat.  The  consciousness  of  great  phys- 
ical strength  produced  a  spirit  of  independence  and  a  native 
indifference  to  danger  which  struck  the  Romans  with  aston- 
ishment, and  which,  by  inducing  a  blind  reliance  on  their 
own  strength,  caused  the  Teutons  to  weaken  themselves  by 
internal  feuds,  or  with  listless  apathy  to  view  each  other's 
destruction.  None  pitied  the  vanquished.  If  nine  fell,  the 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS        13 

tenth  was  confident  of  gaining  success  by  the  prowess  of  his 
single  arm.  The  greater  the  slaughter  of  his  brethren  by 
the  enemy,  the  fewer  the  competitors  for  glory,  and  so  much 
the  greater  honor  to  the  victor.  Thus,  instead  of  a  neighbor 
being  assisted  as  a  friend,  he  was  only  regarded  as  a  rival 
in  heroic  deeds ;  so  that  the  action  that  would  now  be  con- 
sidered as  the  vilest  perfidy  was  deemed  by  our  forefathers 
the  height  of  chivalric  virtue;  and  it  was  not  until  the 
Romans  had  taken  great  advantage  of  this  error  that  they 
discovered  that  their  safety  depended  upon  their  acting  in 
unison.  But  when  danger  no  longer  threatened,  their  an- 
cient prejudices  again  produced  disunion,  and  it  was  only 
when  the  evil  was  universally  felt  that  they  could  be  induced 
to  enter  into  a  bond  of  mutual  protection.  The  forest  life  of 
the  primitive  Germans  was  one  of  the  primary  causes  of  this 
want  of  union ;  all  intercourse  in  those  immense  and  savage 
tracts  being  restricted  to  the  nearest  neighbors,  as  neither 
roads  nor  commerce  existed  as  a  means  of  communication 
between  the  more  distant  tribes. 

In  the  first  century  after  Christ,  two  Romans,  Tacitus 
the  historian,  who  makes  honorable  mention  of  our  nation, 
and  Pliny  the  great  naturalist,  wrote  a  genealogical  account 
of  the  different  tribes;  which,  according  to  Tacitus,  de- 
scended from  Thuisko,  whose  son  Mammus  was  the  com- 
mon ancestor  of  the  Ingavones,  Hermiones,  and  Istavones; 
the  first  of  whom  are  placed  by  Pliny  on  the  North  Sea ;  the 
second,  in  the  interior  of  Germany;  and  the  third,  on  the 
Rhine.  He  moreover  mentions  two  great  German  nations, 
the  Vendili  on  the  Baltic,  and  the  Peucini  on  the  island  of 
Peuce,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Danube  in  Hungary. 

Thuisko  is  evidently  an  epithet  derived  from  Thuit, 
Thiot,  the  people ;  like  Mannisko,  from  Mann,  a  man ;  and 
nothing  further  is  discoverable  beyond  the  subdivision  of 
these  great  nations  into  tribes.  Whether  Thuisko  was  also 
honored  as  a  god,  and  was  identical  with  Wodan,  is  not  of 
much  import  with  regard  to  the  genealogy  of  these  nations. 
He  has  been  supposed  to  be  the  same  as  the  Egyptian  god 


14  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

Thoth-Hermes,  to  whom  Odin  bears  much  resemblance  in 
his  works  of  invention,  and  the  Romans  in  fact  assimilate 
him  with  Mercury  or  Hermes,  a  name  resembling  that  of 
the  German  deity  Irmin,  and  that  of  the  Hermiones. 

About  A.D.  1100,  the  monk  Nestor,  the  earliest  Russian 
chronicler,  divided  the  Veragri  or  Scandinavians,  who  con- 
quered Russia,  into  Suiones,  Urmanni,  Inglani,  and  Gothi. 
Could  he  have  intended  under  these  names  to  designate  the 
Swedes,  the  Normans,  the  inhabitants  of  Ingermanland  and 
Gothland,  or  did  he  refer  to  the  yet  earlier  division  of  all  the 
German  tribes,  as  recorded  by  Tacitus  and  Pliny?  An  old 
manuscript  in  the  Vatican  library  mentions  Ermenius,  Ingo, 
and  Esco  as  the  ancestors  of  the  Germans,  who  in  the  sixth 
century  are  named  by  Nennius,  the  Englishman,  Hisicio, 
Armeno,  and  Mugio. 

These  ancient  names  were  soon  lost  amid  the  migrations 
of  the  tribes.  In  the  north,  the  Ingavones  gave  place  to  the 
Saxons;  in  the  west,  the  Istavones  to  the  Franks;  in  the 
east  and  south,  the  Hermiones  to  the  Goths,  who,  being 
the  most  considerable  of  the  migratory  tribes,  gained  the 
upper  hand,  and  were  consequently  at  enmity  with  each 
other.  The  hatred  existing  between  the  brother-nations  is 
recorded  in  our  old  warlike  legends,  in  which  the  Franks 
are  called  the  Nibelungen ;  the  Saxons,  the  Hegelingen ;  and 
the  Goths,  the  Walfinger. 

Gaupp  has  very  ingeniously  sought  to  refer  all  the  Ger- 
man tribes  to  two  original  sources,  the  Suevi  and  the  Non- 
Suevi,  or  High  and  Low  Dutch.  Under  the  denomination 
pf  Suevi  he  comprehends  Suevi,  Alemanni,  Bavarians,  Bur- 
gundians,  Goths,  Alani,  Vandals,  Gepidae,  originally  wan- 
dering shepherd  tribes  attracted  by  the  superiority  of.  the 
country,  and  consisting  of  nobles,  freemen  and  slaves,  who, 
when  converted  to  Christianity,  embraced  Arianism,  which 
formed  a  still  stronger  bond  between  them,  and  more  broadly 
distinguished  them  from  the  Non-Suevi,  under  which  de- 
nomination he  classes  the  Franks,  Saxons,  Lombards,  Thu- 
ringians,  and  Frieslanders,  who  first  practiced  husbandry, 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS        15 

had  settled  dwellings,  and  were  divided  into  only  one  class 
of  freemen,  and  two  classes  of  bondsmen,  Lazzi  and  Slavi  or 
Servi,  and  who  professing  Catholicism  were  united,  by  a 
common  faith,  against  the  Arian  Suevi.  The  whole  of  these 
divisions  are  apparently  correct,  nor  are  they  contradictory. 
The  Suevi  collected  into  enormous  masses,  while  the  Non- 
Suevi  separated,  on  account  of  their  having  fixed  habitations, 
into  numerous  and  much  smaller  tribes,  of  which  the  Romans 
have  specified  an  enormous  number,  which,  taken  in  the 
aggregate,  may  formerly  have  simply  belonged  to  two  great 
sources,  the  Istavones  and  Ingavones,  who,  at  a  later  period, 
subdivided  in  a  similar  manner  in  Franconia  and  Saxony. 
Among  the  Hermiones,  Tacitus  first  mentions  the  Suevi,  to 
whom  the  Vendili  or  Peucini  of  Pliny  doubtless  belonged  as 
Gothic  tribes  in  the  east.  Thus  the  old  account  perfectly 
coincides  with  the  modern  mode  of  division.  Many  of  the 
tribes  were  totally  exterminated  by  intestine  wars  or  during 
migration:  many,  on  the  contrary,  raised  themselves  by 
their  bravery  from  insignificance  to  considerable  power; 
some  incorporated  themselves  with  nations  to  which  they 
did  not  originally  belong,  as,  for  instance,  the  Lombards, 
who,  severing  themselves  from  the  Suevi,  united  with  the 
Saxons;  finally,  an  intermixture  of  races  took  place,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  New  Thuringians,  who  were  some  of  Frank- 
ish,  others  of  Suevian  (Varini)  origin. 

The  German  tribes  may  with  great  justice  be  compared 
to  a  swarm  of  bees.  The  mere  love  of  fighting  occasioned 
continual  wars  between  them,  either  on  the  pretext  of  defend- 
ing their  frontiers  from  the  aggressions  of  their  neighbors,  or 
for  the  purpose  of  extending  them ;  and  they  had  the  custom 
of  sending  the  young  men,  whenever  the  population  became 
too  numerous  for  the  soil,  annually  forth  to  seek  an  existence 
in  foreign  lands,  so  that  the  surplus  of  their  warlike  popula- 
tion was  unceasingly  pouring  across  the  frontiers.  The 
earliest  and  numerous  migratory  hordes,  traveling  from 
north  to  south,  were  apparently  also  German  adventurers, 
such  as  the  Cimmerii,  Boii,  and  Senones ;  and  in  later  times, 


16  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

the  Cimbri  and  Teutones ;  the  Suevi,  under  Ariovistus ;  the 
Marcomanni,  Quadi,  Getae,  and  Bastarnae.  The  opposition 
they  met  with  from  the  Romans  appears  to  have  turned 
them  eastward;  a  circumstance  which  perhaps  reveals  the 
origin  of  the  immense  empire  founded  by  the  Goth,  Her- 
manarich,  between  the  Baltic  and  the  Black  Sea.  These 
fierce  nations  again  poured  with  irresistible  fury  from  the 
north  to  the  south  and  west;  opposition  proved  unavailing, 
and  Goths,  Alani,  Vandals,  Burgundians,  Longobardi,  Ale- 
manni,  Franks,  Angli,  and  Saxons,  spread  like  a  torrent 
over  the  whole  Roman  empire.  It  was  some  time  after  this 
migration  of  these  enormous  multitudes  before  a  large  mass 
could  again  collect  for  a  similar  purpose  in  Germany,  where 
they  began  to  congregate  into  cities;  when  the  surplus  popu- 
lation again  took  possession  of  the  Slavonian  countries,  which 
were  conquered  in  the  tunes  of  the  crusades,  and  colonized 
the  shores  of  the  Baltic.  Since  that  period  the  destructive 
religious  wars  prevented  a  too  great  increase  of  population, 
and  filled  Holland  and  the  distant  colonies  with  thousands, 
who  fled  thither  from  persecution  at  home;  and  within  the 
last  century  several  hundred  thousands  of  German  advent- 
urers have  gradually  settled  .in  America,  on  the  Wolga,  and 
in  other  parts  of  the  world. 

In  their  native  country,  the  Ancient  Germans  were  dis- 
tinguished by  the  epithet  of  "Free,"  from  the  bondsmen, 
who  apparently  were  not  of  German  origin.  These  Sclavi 
(Slavi,  Slavonians  or  Servi,  Serbi  or  Servii)  were  doubtless 
prisoners  taken  from  our  Slavonian  neighbors  in  the  east. 
The  other  bondsmen,  who  rented  their  property  from  and 
were  protected  by  a  freeman,  were  called  Lazzi,  Lati,  or 
Liti,  in  Germany,  and  Aldi,  among  the  Longobardi  in  Italy. 
It  is  still  uncertain  whether,  like  the  Sclavi  or  Servi,  they 
were  originally  a  conquered  people,  or  whether  the  name  is 
derived  from  the  word  lassen,  to  let  (freigelassenen,  those 
let  free),  or  from  laz,  the  last  or  lowest.  The  Longobardian 
Aldi  evidently  signifies  the  ancient  (alien)  and  conquered 
inhabitants  of  the  country. 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS 


V.    The  Suevian  Tribes 

SNORRI  STURLESON,  the  earliest  historian  of  the  north, 
who  wrote  in  the  German  (Icelandish)  tongue,  divides  the 
ancient  world  into  three  parts,  Asia,  Suithiod,  and  Europe.1 
Tacitus  also  says  that  the  Suevi  possessed  by  far  the  greater 
part  of  Germany.  Greek  ships  that  visited  the  shores  of  the 
Baltic  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  amber,  about  three  cen- 
turies B.C.,  brought  back  accounts  of  the  Suiones  in  modern 
Sweden,  of  the  mountain  Sewo  between  Sweden  and  Nor- 
way, and  of  the  Suevian  Sea,  the  Baltic.  The  ancient  name 
is  still  preserved  in  those  of  Swabia  and  Switzerland.  The 
Hungarians  call  all  Germans  Swabians.  It  is  impossible 
to  discover  whether  the  name  was  taken  from  see,  the  sea, 
or  from  schweifen,  to  roam  about;  on  account  of  their 
nomad  mode  of  existence,  or  from  the  long  hanging  haar 
schweifen,  tails  of  hair,  worn  by  them  tied  together  behind 
the  head,  and  which  formed  part  of  their  national  costume. 

Fifty  years  B.C.,  when  Julius  Caesar  for  the  first  time 
led  his  legions  to  the  Rhine,  he  found  the  western  Germans 
(Non-Suevi)  under  great  apprehension  on  account  of  the 
numerical  superiority  of  their  eastern  neighbors,  the  Suevi. 
From  them  he  learned  that  they  were  divided  into  a  hundred 
districts,  each  of  which  annually  sent  forth  a  thousand  war- 
riors, who  migrated  in  one  vast  horde.  A  century  later, 
Tacitus  mentions  these  hundred  districts,  but  says  that  the 
Semnones,  the  most  ancient  and  the  most  considerable  tribe 
of  the  Suevi,  was  the  only  one  so  divided,  exclusively  of  the 
numerous  other  Suevian  tribes. 

The  Semnones,  and  their  allies  the  Boii,  overran  Greece 
and  Italy  at  a  much  earlier  period,  settled  in  the  north  of 
Italy,  and  after  a  long  and  difficult  struggle  (the  wars  of  the 
Samnites)  were  vanquished  by  the  Romans.  Their  name 
resembles  that  of  the  royal  race  of  Saming,  the  son  of  Odin, 

1  Suithiod,  the  extensive  country  of  the  Suevi,  lay  between  Asia  and  Europe. 


18  THE   HISTORY   OF    GERMANY 

the  Samingri,  in  Norway.  The  same  may  be  said  of  Sam- 
land.  Perhaps  the  name  may  also  be  traced  in  that  of  the 
Cenni  (Sens,  Senn,  shepherds  in  the  Alps),  who,  Anno 
Domini  300,  joined  the  Catti  and  Hermunduri  and  opposed 
the  Romans. 

A  remarkable  accordance  exists  between  the  names  of 
the  places  and  of  the  nations  situated  on  the  extreme  verge 
of  the  north  and  the  south  of  ancient  Suithiod.  In  the  north, 
the  Suiones  or  Swedes,  the  Samingri  and  Samlanders,  with 
the  Guttones  or  Goths,  Danes  and  Cimbri.  In  the  south, 
the  Swabians  and  the  Swiss,  the  Semnones  and  Cenni,  with 
the  Getae  as  far  as  the  Danube;  the  Cimmerii,  Umbri,  etc. 
Besides  these,  there  are  the  Gaelic  names  which  are  evidently 
anterior  to  the  German  migrations.  Snorri  relates,  that 
Odin  found  Norway  already  peopled,  and  that  a  nation 
called  the  Vani  gave  place  to  the  German  Vandali,  who  in 
their  turn  were  replaced  by  the  Slavonian  Vendi.  Again, 
we  find  in  the  south  the  names  of  Noricum  (which  may 
perhaps  be  also  traced  in  those  of  Nordlingen  and  Nurem- 
berg), and  Vindelicia,  in  Augusta  Vindelicorum,  now  Augs- 
burg; also  in  Venice,  the  Vendian  boundary.  In  the  north, 
we  find  the  worship  of  Thor,  who  was  held  in  peculiar  rever- 
ence by  the  Gaelic  and  Finnish  tribes,  and  who  is  anterior  to 
Odin ;  and  in  the  south,  we  meet  with  the  Taurisci  in  the 
Alps,  the  Thurgau,  etc.  There  also  exists  some  similarity 
in  name  and  language  between  the  Lettish  tribes  in  the 
north,  and  the  Latins  (whence  the  Latin  or  Roman  tongue) 
in  the  south. 

Tacitus  mentions  all  the  Suevian  nations  by  the  general 
name  of  Hermiones,  a  name  that  again  appears  in  that  of 
the  Hermunduri,  who  dwelt  in  modern  Thuringia,  and  in 
that  of  Ariminum  (Rimini),  a  city  founded  by  the  Samnites 
in  Italy.  The  German  deity,  Irmin,  and  the  celebrated  col- 
umn of  Irmen,  a  relic  of  paganism,  destroyed  by  Charle- 
magne, show  the  same  connection,  and  again  call  to  mind 
the  similarity  between  Hermes,  Thoth,  and  Thuisko. 

Besides  the  Hermunduri,  other  nations  were  said  to  be- 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS       19 

long  to  the  Hermiones ;  the  Cherusci  in  the  Harz  Mountains, 
the  Catti  in  Hesse,  the  Longobardi  on  the  Middle  Elbe,  the 
Marcomanni  and  Quadi  on  the  Danube,  besides  several  petty 
tribes  in  the  direction  of  the  Oder  and  the  Baltic,  who  are 
buried  in  complete  obscurity. 

Pliny  distinguished  the  numerous  Gothic  tribes  by  the 
generic  names  of  Vendili  on  the  Baltic,  and  Peucini  on  the 
Danube,  from  the  more  westerly  Hermiones.  The  Peucini 
lay  nearest  to  Asia,  their  native  land,  and  took  their  name 
from  an  island  supposed  to  have  been  held  sacred,  and  which 
possibly  may  have  had  some  connection  with  that  of  Samo- 
thrace,  where  the  religions  of  the  north  and  of  Greece  inter- 
mingled, or  with  the  oracle  of  Delphi  in  Greece,  which  was 
founded  by  Hyperboreans  in  the  earlier  ages  of  antiquity. 
Zamolxis,  the  sage,  who  first  taught  the  doctrine  of  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul,  dwelt,  at  a  very  remote  period,  among 
the  Getae,  the  principal  nation  of  the  Peucini.  These  Ger- 
man tribes  on  the  Danube  were  first  subdued  by  Darius,  the 
Persian  king,  and  afterward  by  Alexander  the  Great.  They 
consisted  of  Getae,  Daci,  and  Bastarnae,  and  were  in  alliance 
with  the  Marcomanni  in  Bohemia,  Bohmen,  or  Bojenheim, 
the  ancient  birthplace  of  the  Boii. 

The  Quadi  and  Cenni  defended  the  shores  of  the  Danube 
against  the  Romans,  who,  at  an  earlier  period,  met  with 
similar  opposition  from  the  Boii,  and  their  constant  allies, 
the  Senones. 

When  the  northern  Vendili,  consisting  of  Goths,  Van- 
dals, Burgundians,  Alani,  Gepidae,  Heruli,  Rugii,  etc.,  mi- 
grated to  the  south,  overspread  the  ancient  Roman  empire, 
gave  new  inhabitants  to  Italy,  France,  Spain,  and  even  to 
the  north  of  Africa,  the  whole  of  ancient  Suithiod,  from  the 
Elbe  to  the  Vistula,  was  left  bare,  until  repeopled  by  fresh 
Slavonian  settlers. 

The  Suevi,  who  remained  in  Upper  Germany,  received 
the  name  of  Alemanni,  which  is  still  preserved  in  that  of  the 
Swabian  Almanden,  public  property,  and  evidently  means 
all,  or  all  sorts  of  men.  The  French  call  the  Germans  Alle- 


20  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMAN? 

mands.  The  Bavarian  Hessians,  and  a  part  of  the  Thurin- 
gians,  were  also  originally  Suevi,  and  Austria,  when  retaken 
by  them  from  its  Slavonian  settlers,  was  again  Germanized. 
Thus  the  whole  of  modern  southern  Germany  is  Suevian, 
and  still  makes  use  of  the  common  High  German  or  Dutch 
(oberdeutsch)  tongue,  though  the  long  separation  has  ren- 
dered it  very  different  to  that  spoken  in  the  north  of  Sweden, 
with  which  it  was  once  nearly  allied. 

VI.    The  Tribes  of  Lower  Germany 

THE  Istavones  were  the  Franks  on  the  Rhine;  the  Inga- 
vones,  the  Saxons  on  the  North  Sea ;  they  always  remained 
in  their  ancient  dwelling-places,  although  they  also  sent 
forth  immense  hordes,  which  some  centuries  before  Christ, 
under  the  name  of  Cimbri  and  Teutones,  spread  terror 
throughout  Italy,  and,  at  a  later  period,  repeopled  France 
and  England.  To  the  Istavones,  who  afterward  appear 
as  the  Franks,  belonged,  most  particularly,  the  Sicambri, 
Tencteri,  Usipetes,  Ubii,  Marsi,  Ampsibari,  Angrivarii, 
Chamavi,  Mattiaci,  etc.,  on  the  Lower  Rhine.  The  other 
small  tribes  on  the  Upper  Rhine,  the  Nemetes,  Vangiones, 
Triboci,  Latobrigi,  Rauraci ;  and  on  the  Moselle  and  in  the 
Netherlands,  the  Nervii,  Treveri  (Treves)  and  Belgse  (Neth- 
erlands), to  which  the  Menapii,  Marini,  Gugerni,  Eburones, 
Caninefates,  and  Batavians  also  belonged;  all  of  which  were 
certainly  not  of  Suevian  origin. 

To  the  Ingavones  belonged  the  Cimbri  and  Teutones, 
who  migrated  to  the  south ;  the  Chauci,  who  afterward  ap- 
pear as  the  Saxons ;  the  Frisii,  Fasi,  Dulgibines,  Ambrones, 
Tubantes,  etc. 

Snorri  says  that  Odin  successively  visited  Saxony  and 
Sweden.  The  most  celebrated  of  his  sons  was  Yngwi-Freyr, 
from  whom  the  royal  Swedish  race,  the  Ynglinger,  de- 
scended. According  to  this  writer,  Odin  first  founded  in 
Sweden  the  sacred  city  of  Sigtuna  (Upsala),  from  Sigge, 
one  of  his  own  names,  which  leads  us  to  the  Sicambri,  and 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS       21 

to  the  legendary  Frankish  hero,  Siegfried,  who  is  also  fa- 
mous in  the  legends  of  the  north,  which  in  fact  have  gen- 
erally originated  from  the  Rhine.  Odin  is  perhaps  Ulysses, 
of  whom  Tacitus  says  that  he  founded  Asciburgium  (Odin's 
Asgard),  on  the  Lower  Rhine.  Perhaps  we  must  go  back 
yet  further.  The  Ambrones  and  Sequani  dwelt  on  the 
Rhone  and  Saone,  where,  according  to  the  Gaelic  legend, 
King  Ambigat  reigned,  and  sent  the  two  sons  of  his  sister 
forth  at  the  head  of  immense  armies;  Bellovesus  to  Italy, 
where  he  founded  Milan;  and  Sigovesus  across  the  Rhine, 
where,  together  with  the  Tectosagae  (quod  sagis  tegerentur), 
he  settled  in  the  until  then  unpeopled  Hercynian  forest. 

The  Frankish-Saxon  Odin-Sigge  is  probably  Sarnote 
(Saxon  Odin),  who,  in  the  form  of  abjuration  anciently 
prescribed  to  the  German  pagans  on  their  -conversion  to 
Christianity,  is  particularly  mentioned  after  Wodan.  In 
the  temple  at  Upsala,  the  statue  of  the  warlike  Odin  stood 
before  a  great  golden  sun,  which  was  perhaps  symbolical 
of  the  still  more  ancient  Suevian-Gothic  deity,  Wodan 
(Guodan,  God).  The  great  annual  festival  in  the  north 
was  called  Sunarblot,  Sonnen-blut  (blood  of  the  sun),  Son- 
nen-opfer  (sacrifice  of  the  sun).  Among  the  ancient  Per- 
sians, Thaout  meant  sacred  fire.  Perhaps  a  more  simple 
Suevian-Gothic  adoration  of  the  sun  (of  the  ancient  "Wodan) 
preceded  the  more  polished  worship  of  Odin.  Perhaps  the 
Franks  learned  image  worship  in  temples  from  the  more 
civilized  Gauls,  or  from  the  Grecian  and  Phosnician  mer- 
chantmen, who  visited  those  northern  coasts.  The  twelve 
Drotlar,  whom  Odin  appointed  supreme  judges  over  the 
Swedes,  call  to  mind  the  Druids  or  Gallic  priests. 

VII.    The  Germans 

THE  character  common  to  all  the  nomad  tribes,  or  tribes 
of  wandering  hunters  and  shepherds,  at  the  period  of  their 
settlement  in  Germany,  soon  obliterated  all  trace  of  differ- 
ence in  descent.  There  is  an  authentic  account  of  the  divis- 


22  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

ion  of  the  land,  by  the  Suevi,  into  Almenden  (public  prop- 
erty), belonging  to  whole  tribes  or  communities,  not  to  single 
families,  which,  in  course  of  time,  was  exchanged  for  the 
Allodium,  or  private  property,  a  mode  of  division  which  had 
been  introduced  at  an  earlier  period  among  the  lower  Ger- 
mans. This  gradual  transition,  however,  does  not  prove  the 
existence  of  any  essential  difference  between  the  German 
tribes,  in  which  man,  not  property,  was  the  chief  considera- 
tion. All  the  Germans  were  warriors.  Irman,  in  the  Per- 
sian tongue,  signifies  a  guest  or  companion  in  arms;  Ger- 
manus,  in  Latin,  a  brother.  They  were  all  freemen  and 
equal,  united  by  a  strong  fraternal  bond.  The  whole  of  the 
German  tribes  were  early  distinguished  by  their  spirit  of 
equalization  from  the  other  hordes  to  the  north  of  the  Cau- 
casus, the  Slavi  and  Tartars,  as  well  as  from  those  to  the 
south,  in  Persia,  Afghanistan,  and  Arabia,  all  of  which, 
with  the  patriarchal  reverence  of  children  to  their  father, 
submitted  to  a  single  supremacy,  and  when,  through  in- 
crease of  population  or  by  conquest,  they  had  attained  con- 
siderable power,  always  erected  magnificent  palaces  for  their 
sovereigns,  whose  magic  splendor  was  the  astonishment  of 
the  world,  and  realized  the  fairy  dreams  of  eastern  imagina- 
tion in  the  wonders  of  Babylon,  Delhi,  Bagdad,  Ispahan  and 
Stamboul.  The  Germans,  on  the  contrary,  regarded  each 
other  as  brethren  and  equals,  and  even  when  they  had  be- 
come numerous  and  powerful,  and  were  united  under  great 
leaders,  always  asserted  their  equality,  and  defended  their 
free  constitution.  Every  one  enjoyed  personal  freedom,  and 
had  an  exclusive  right  over  his  own  property.  In  the  pop- 
ular assemblies  of  each  district,  the  eldest  man  present  pre- 
sided, and  the  majority  decided.  It  was  only  during  war 
that  they  obeyed  a  leader,  whom  they  selected  by  raising 
him  on  their  shields.  Even  after  the  great  migration,  when 
the  Germans,  for  nearly  a  thousand  years,  had,  with  various 
fortune,  struggled  against  the  Romans,  and  incessant  war- 
fare had  consolidated  the  power  of  their  leaders,  we  still  find, 
wherever  the  German  tongue  was  spoken,  from  Iceland  and 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS        23 

Norway  to  the  Gothic  settlements  in  Italy  and  Spain,  their 
ancient  division  into  districts  and  their  free  constitution, 
which  continued  to  exist  long  after  the  birth  of  Christ,  and 
gave  rise  to  the  modern  brotherhoods  and  societies  of  differ- 
ent orders  of  knighthood,  and  to  the  guilds  and  corporations 
of  citizens.  In  England,  Switzerland  and  Holland,  ancient 
German  freedom  reigned  almost  uninterruptedly  up  to  the 
present  times,  and  in  most  of  the  other  originally  German 
or  Germanized  countries  it  has  been  revived  under  new 
constitutions. 

The  free  intercourse  between  citizens,  possessed  of  equal 
privileges  and  bound  by  the  same  duties,  was  the  soul  of  the 
ancient  German  communities,  and  the  foundation  on  which 
their  whole  history  rests.  Their  liberty  is  of  more  ancient 
date  than  their  servitude,  for  it  owed  its  existence  to  the 
national  character  of  the  German,  and  though  seemingly 
withered,  still  springs  forth  anew.  "Liberty,"  said  the  Ro- 
man poet  Lucanus,  "is  the  German's  birthright."  "It  is  a 
privilege,"  wrote  the  Roman  historian  Florus,  "which  nat- 
ure has  granted  to  the  Germans,  and  which  the  Greeks,  with 
all  their  art,  knew  not  how  to  obtain."  Hume,  the  great 
English  historian,  says,  "If  our  part  of  the  world  maintain 
sentiments  of  liberty,  honor,  equity  and  valor  superior  to 
the  rest  of  mankind,  it  owes  these  advantages  to  the  seeds 
implanted  by  those  generous  barbarians."  "Liberty,"  ob- 
served Montesquieu,  "that  lovely  thing,  was  discovered  in 
the  wild  forests  of  Germany." 

VIII.    Ancient  German  Heroism 

THE  Germans  were  distinguished  from  all  other  nations 
by  their  blue  eyes,  light  hair,  and  gigantic  stature.  They 
are  said  to  have  been  generally  seven  feet  in  height,  far 
overtopping  the  Gauls  and  Romans.  Bones  of  an  enormous 
size  have  been  found  in  the  ancient  burial-places  of  the  Huns, 
and  people  of  extraordinary  stature  are  even  now  to  be  met 
with  on  the  coasts  of  the  North  Sea  and  the  Baltic,  and 


24  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

among  the  German  Alps.  The  gigantic  shepherd  of  Sens 
braving  the  Alpine  regions  of  Berne  and  Unterwalden  pre- 
sents the  truest  image  of  our  forefathers,  whose  strength 
was  a  national  inheritance.  Caesar  said  that  the  Gauls  fled 
at  the  sight  of  the  Germans,  and  the  emperor  Titus,  when 
commending  them,  said,  "Their  bodies  are  great,  but  their 
souls  are  still  greater!" 

In  the  remotest  ages,  it  was  customary  among  the  Ger- 
mans to  destroy  weakly,  sickly,  or  deformed  children,  to 
drown  in  the  morasses  men  whose  bodies  had  been  mutilated 
(corpore  infames),  and  when  become  useless  from  old  age, 
voluntarily  to  deprive  themselves  of  life.  An  existence  de- 
void of  strength  and  beauty  appeared  to  them  to  be  worth- 
less, and  according  to  their  religion,  the  joys  of  heaven  were 
only  granted  to  those  who  fell  by  the  sword.  Valerius  Maxi- 
mus  relates  that  they  sorrowed  when  dying  on  their  beds, 
and  rejoiced  while  expiring  on  the  field  of  battle. 

In  the  north,  the  sick  were,  at  their  own  request,  pierced 
with  a  lance,  in  order  that  a  wound,  and  not  disease,  might 
be  the  cause  of  their  death.  In  Norway  there  was  a  rock 
from  which  the  old  men  threw  themselves  into  the  sea,  after 
dividing  their  wealth  among  their  children  at  a  parting  feast. 

The  bodily  vigor  with  which  the  Germans  were  endowed 
was  probably  the  result  of  the  simplicity  and  purity  of  their 
manners,  added  to  their  continual  exercise  in  the  open  air. 
"War,  the  chase,  and  sometimes,  though  rarely,  agriculture, 
were  their  only  occupations.  They  despised,  as  effeminate, 
the  refinements  of  civilized  life ;  and  as  every  wall  appeared 
to  them  a  prison,  they  built  no  cities,  and  destroyed  those  of 
the  countries  they  invaded.  To  the  south  of  the  Danube, 
in  Switzerland  and  in  Gaul,  the  Romans  had  built  splendid 
cities,  communicating  with  each  other  by  means  of  military 
roads,  all  of  which  were  razed  to  the  ground  by  the  Franks 
and  the  Alemanni,  and  before  long  replaced  by  the  low  hut 
of  the  f reeborn  German,  and  the  forest  in  which  he  loved 
to  dwell.  No  towns,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  sacred 
places,  known  by  the  name  of  Asenburgen,  were  to  be  found 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS   OF  ANCIENT   GERMANS        25 

in  Germany  before  the  tenth  century  after  Christ ;  the  fron- 
tier towns  of  the  Boii,  in  the  Southern  Tyrol,  which  are  men- 
tioned two  centuries  before  Christ,  having  been  merely  built 
for  defense  during  the  wars,  in  imitation  of  those  constructed 
by  the  Romans.  "With  a  mind  free  and  bold,  and  a  body 
inured  to  fatigue,  the  natural  results  of  his  wild  forest  life, 
the  German  was  ever  inspired  with  the  almost  hereditary 
ambition  of  distinguishing  himself  by  heroic  deeds :  no  dan- 
ger could  appall,  no  opposition  deter  him.  A  chivalric  and 
unbending  spirit  pervaded  the  whole  nation.  "Who,"  asks 
Seneca,  "is  braver  than  the  German?"  And  Sidonius  says, 
"Death  alone  subdues  them,  not  fear;  they  threaten  even 
in  death;  their  courage  survives  them!"  They  were,  con- 
sequently, continually  in  arms.  According  to  Libanius,  they 
sat  down  to  their  meals  in  full  armor,  and  slept  helmeted. 
Weapons  were  the  usual  marriage  gift  between  a  bridal  pair, 
for  the  women  also  learned  to  use  them.  .  They  were  even 
held  so  sacred  that  it  was  customary  to  swear  by  them. 
They  are  often  mentioned  in  treaties  of  peace,  and  the  old 
song  of  Wieland  in  the  Northern  Edda  has  the  words,  "Thou 
shalt  swear  to  me  by  the  deck  of  the  ship,  and  by  the  rim  of 
the  shield,  by  the  withers  of  the  horse,  and  by  the  point  of 
the  sword."  They  were  also  considered  as  proofs  of  illus- 
trious descent,  and  were  handed  down  from  one  generation 
to  another. 

Over-population  and  famine,  but  still  oftener  their  war- 
like propensities  and  thirst  for  adventure,  seem  to  have  been 
the  causes  that  induced  the  Germans  to  abandon  their  for- 
ests ;  and  if  we  compare  the  expedition  of  Brennus  to  Delphi, 
with  the  crusades ;  the  irruption  of  Crocus,  the  destroyer  of 
cities,  with  the  venturous  expeditions  of  the  Normans  to 
Winland  (America)  and  Greenland,  they  will  all  be  found 
to  have  been  inspired  by  the  same  enthusiasm.  In  all,  war- 
like customs  preponderated  over  peaceful  arts;  the  people 
were  always  armed,  carried  on  private  feuds,  and  preferred 
the  trial  by  single  combat  to  the  decision  of  the  law. 

A  malady,  caused  by  superabundant  health  and  strength, 
GERMANY.  VOL.  I. — 2 


26  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

and  unknown  among  other  nations,  was  common  among  the 
Germans,  and  in  the  north  was  called  the  Berserkerwuth. 
Ber  or  bar  signifies  without.  Serk,  like  the  Scotch  sark,  a 
gown  or  frock.  In  the  mountainous  Rhone  country,  a  frock 
is  still  called  sarg.  This  malady,  or  rather  madness,  seized 
them  when  at  the  height  of  their  strength,  more  particularly 
when  excited  by  anger,  when  they  spared  neither  friend  nor 
foe,  and  would  even  rave  against  themselves.  Hence  arose 
the  legend  of  the  were- wolf,  or  of  men  who  at  certain  hours 
were  changed  into  wolves. ' 

IX.    Ancient  Fellowship  in  Arms 

THE  civil  institutions,  the  customs  and  superstitions  of 
ancient  Germany,  arose  from  the  peculiar  and  warlike  form 
of  government  necessary  for  the  guidance  of  a  nation  ot  free 
warriors,  who  owned  no  laws  save  those  of  chivalry  and 
honor.  This  chivalric  feeling  is  by  no  means  sufficiently 
explained  by  ascribing  it  to  the  character  common  to  all  the 
wandering  robber  hordes,  as  it  never  rose  in  those  of  Asia  to 
such  a  degree  of  sublimity.  The  cause  must  then  be  sought 
in  the  traits  peculiarly  characteristic  of  our  race,  which  prob- 
ably descended  at  a  very  remote  period  from  some  warrior 
caste  of  Northern  India,  from  which  they,  in  a  degree,  in- 
herited a  spirit  of  equality  and  fraternization  which,  strength- 
ened by  the  lapse  of  centuries,  became  at  length  indelibly 
stamped  on  the  national  character. 

The  youthful  warriors  (Huns)  generally  took  a  mutual 
pledge  as  brethren  in  arms,  and  elected  a  leader  from  among 
their  number  by  raising  him  on  their  shields,  being  guided 
in  their  choice  by  superior  skill  or  courage,  instead  of  high 
birth.  It  sometimes  happened  that  a  chief,  already  famous 
for  mighty  deeds,  collected  the  young  men  into  an  army 
and  placed  himself  at  their  head.  The  most  implicit  obedi- 
ence was  rendered  to  the  chief,  whom  they  were  bound  not 

1  This  lupomania  is  still  prevalent  in  the  countries  to  the  north  and  northeast 
of  the  Adriatic. — Translator. 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT^  GERMANS       27 

to  forsake  even  if  he  fell  on  the  field,  and  if  vanquished,  to 
die  with  him.  It  was  a  common  custom  for  the  survivors 
to  kill  themselves,  instead  of  seeking  safety  by  flight,  and  it 
is  authentically  recorded  that  they  even  caused  themselves 
to  be  buried  alive  in  the  tombs  of  their  chieftains. 

Many  proofs  of  the  severity  of  the  laws  by  which  these 
barbarians  were  governed  were  afforded  during  their  wars 
with  the  Romans,  and  are  still  recorded  by  the  traditionary 
chroniclers  of  the  North.  The  same  severity  is  also  percepti- 
ble in  the  chivalric  regulations  of  the  knights  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  for  the  lists  and  in  the  field.  The  Cimbri,  in  their  con- 
tempt for  every  stratagem  of  war,  and  for  the  Romans  who 
defended  themselves  behind  their  intrenchments,  always  in- 
formed their  opponents  of  the  place  and  hour  fixed  for  battle, 
exactly  as  was  in  later  times  the  custom  when  a  feudal  com- 
bat took  place,  or  as  is  now  customary  in  dueling.  The 
Germans  rode  without  saddles  and  ridiculed  the  Romans  for 
making  use  of  them.  By  an  ancient  Danish  law,  whoever 
fled  from  fewer  than  four  foes  forfeited  his  honor,  and  the 
Norman  laws  were  still  more  severe.  The  Jomsvikinger 
band  was  only  allowed  to  make  use  of  blunted  swords  an  ell 
long,  with  which  they  were  expected  to  overcome  every  foe. 
There  was  an  association  of  pirates  in  the  north,  who  were 
obliged  by  their  laws  to  hoist  their  sails  on  the  open  sea  dur- 
ing storms,  in  defiance  of  the  elements,  even  when  shipwreck 
was  the  sure  result ;  and  daring  courage,  allied  with  spotless 
honor  and  good  faith,  form  the  chief  characteristics  of  all 
the  heroes  in  the  ancient  legendary  accounts ;  in  the  old  song 
of  the  Nibelungen,  for  instance.  Every  one  was  declared 
infamous  who  made  use  of  stratagem  or  took  advantage  of 
weakness;  all  dishonorable  and  cowardly  artifices,  such  as 
falling  on  the  enemy's  rear,  lying  treacherously  in  ambus- 
cade, making  use  of  poisoned  weapons,  in  short,  whatever 
might  render  the  contest  unequal,  was  condemned  as  Nid- 
ingswerk,  and  forbidden  under  a  heavy  penalty. 

Before  iron  and  steel  were  used  by  the  Germans  for  the 
manufacture  of  coats  of  mail,  they  covered  themselves  with 


28  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

the  skins  of  wild  animals,  wearing  on  their  heads  those  of 
the  bear,  the  horned  buffalo  or  the  antlered  stag,  whence 
arose  the  custom  of  placing  horns,  wings,  and  other  symbols 
on  iron  helmets  and  escutcheons.  The  shields,  generally 
made  long  and  narrow  in  order  to  guard  the  whole  person, 
were  either  painted,  ornamented  with  figures,  inlaid  with  gold 
or  silver,  adorned  with  armorial  bearings,  or,  when  highly 
finished,  with  a  representation  of  some  battle  or  famous 
exploit.  The  colors  of  the  dresses  worn  by  the  warriors 
varied  according  to  those  on  their  escutcheon.  Iron  rings 
placed  round  the  body  seem  to  have  been  the  first  approach 
to  the  use  of  armor,  which  is,  however,  of  very  ancient  date, 
and  was  called  Brinne,  from  brehen,  to  shine.  The  name 
of  Brennus,  so  common  among  the  Boii,  apparently  signifies 
"a  man  in  armor."  The  Cimbri  had  numerous  troops  of 
mailed  cavalry. 

Warriors  who  fell  on  the  field  of  battle  were  burned  on 
funeral  piles,  together  with  their  arms  and  the  bodies  of 
their  enemies,  and  immense  mounds,  known  as  the  tombs 
of  the  Huns,  were  raised  over  them.  Naval  chiefs  were  con- 
sumed with  their  ships  either  on  shore  or  on  the  open  sea. 
One  of  the  heroes  of  the  north,  who  had  been  brought  on 
shore  mortally  wounded,  ordered  all  the  booty  and  the  dead 
bodies  of  his  enemies  to  be  piled  on  the  deck  of  his  ship, 
placed  himself  on  the  summit  as  on  a  throne,  and  sailed  into 
the  midst  of  the  ocean,  where  the  whole  was  consumed. 

Warlike  deeds  were  celebrated  in  verse  at  every  public 
festival;  around  every  hearth  resounded  the  praises  of  the 
fallen  brave ;  and  song  alone  preserved  the  memory  of  past 
deeds.  The  singers,  who  accompanied  this  legendary  verse 
with  the  music  of  the  harp,  were  in  the  south  called  bards, 
in  the  north  scalds.  Their  songs  were  the  forerunners  of  the 
more  elaborate  productions  of  the  Nibelungen,  the  German 
legendary  ballads,  and  the  northern  sagas. 

In  the  popular  religion  war  was  regarded  as  a  sacred  and 
imperative  duty ;  the  gods  were  even  supposed  to  ride  daily 
on  the  plain  of  Ida,  and  to  battle  with  each  other,  after 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS       29 

which  they  held  a  joyous  carousal  in  "Walhalla,  or  "the  hall 
of  the  dead,"  where  the  souls  of  warriors  who  had  fallen 
honorably  by  the  sword  were  received  and  permitted,  under 
the  name  of  Einheriar,  to  join  in  the  battles  and  drinking 
feasts  of  the  gods.  Thus  a  warrior's  death  was  the  aspira- 
tion of  every  German,  as  that  alone  could  unlock  for  him 
the  gates  of  that  blessed  abode. 

X.   Armed  Communities 

IN  the  early  German  settlements,  the  customs  of  war 
were  preserved  even  during  peace  time.  The  land  was  con- 
sidered as  lawful  booty,  and  equally  partitioned  among  the 
people,  who  nevertheless  preferred  the  sports  of  the  chase  to 
agriculture.  At  stated  times  they  assembled  (in  the  open  air 
and  armed,  as  if  encamped  in  a  foreign  land)  in  order  to  de- 
liberate on  their  public  affairs.  The  place  of  assembly  was 
called  Malstatt  (from  mal,  time,  and  zeichen,  a  signal),  or 
the  Thing,  or  Dingstatt  (from  dingen,  to  counsel),  and  was 
generally  distinguished  by  a  great  tree,  either  a  sacred  oak, 
ash,  or  lime,  or  by  enormous  stones,  which  were  sometimes 
used  as  sacrificial  altars,  and  sometimes  as  seats  for  the  au- 
dience and  rostra  for  the  orators.  According  to  the  popular 
belief  the  gods  held  council  (Thing),  mounted  on  horseback, 
beneath  the  ash  Ygdrasill.  Even  in  the  dark  records  of  an- 
tiquity it  is  observable  that  the  center  of  union  in  the  great 
alliances  between  nations  was  not  a  king,  but  a  popular  as- 
sembly on  some  sacred  spot.  The  different  tribes  appear  to 
have  been  held  together  by  a  very  frail  federative  system, 
and  their  chiefs  seem  to  have  merely  represented  our  modern 
committee.  As  the  authority  was  never  vested  in  one  indi- 
vidual, a  plurality  always  existed,  and  the  numbers  three, 
four,  and  twelve,  are  generally  found  to  predominate.  In 
the  north,  Odin  founded  the  government  of  the  twelve  Drot- 
tars;  a  number  which  may  have  arisen  from  the  Asiatic  idea 
of  the  twelve  months  or  gods.  It  is  certain  that  the  people 
had,  either  at  the  same  time  the  right  of  deliberating  on  the 


30  THE    HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

public  affairs,  or  very  soon  gained  it ;  for  the  same  Ynglinga- 
saga  which  speaks  of  the  twelve  Drottars  also  records  the 
meeting  of  the  Swedish  Bonden  (free  German  peasantry) 
at  Upsala,  which  decided  all  public  questions,  and  was  the 
exact  counterpart  of  the  meetings  in  the  interior  of  Germany 
as  described  by  Tacitus.  The  free  Norwegians  held  similar 
assemblies  at  Throndheim.  When  the  Galatas,  or  Gallo- 
grseci,  who,  276  B.C.,  invaded  Greece  under  Brennus,  settled 
hi  Asia  Minor,  they  chose  a  place  of  general  assembly  called 
Drynaimet,  and  divided  their  nation  into  twelve  tetrarchies, 
over  each  of  which  was  set  a  tetrarch  who  possessed  either 
hierarchical  or  civil  authority,  a  judge  and  a  war  chief,  ex- 
actly as,  in  the  interior  of  Germany,  the  civil  and  military 
authority  was  in  later  times  divided  between  the  landgrave 
and  the  duke.  The  Salic  law  was  drawn  up  by  four  coun- 
selors chosen  for  that  purpose  out  of  a  convocation  of  the 
whole  Frankish  nation,  who  even  when  ruled  by  kings  and 
emperors  retained  the  right  of  assembling  in  the  Maifeld 
(Mayfield)  in  order  to  counsel  the  government.  At  the  time 
of  the  Frankish  conquest,  the  Saxons  were  divided  into  three 
tribes,  in  Westphalia,  Enger,  and  Eastphalia;  each  tribe 
numbering  twelve  districts.  They  were  also  divided  into 
three  classes,  the  nobles,  the  freeborn,  and  the  freedmen. 
Each  class  in  each  of  these  districts  sent  a  representative, 
altogether  six  and  thirty,  to  the  general  assembly  held  at 
Marklo,  who,  during  peace,  deliberated  for  the  public  weal. 
In  time  of  war  a  duke  was  elected,  who  enjoyed  unlimited 
power  until  peace  was  again  concluded,  when  he  resigned 
his  authority.  The  Frisii  were  also  divided  into  several  dis- 
tricts, and  held  their  annual  popular  assemblies  at  Upstales- 
bome  (Obergerichtsbaum,  tree  of  judgment),  beneath  a 
sacred  tree.  Until  a  very  late  period,  the  twelve  freely 
elected  representatives  of  the  districts  formed  the  delibera- 
tive assembly  in  Saterland.  The  number  ten  is  elsewhere 
found  predominant.  The  Suevi,  or  Semnones,  had  a  hun- 
dred districts,  each  of  which  annually  sent  forth  a  thou- 
sand warriors;  and  sixty  thousand  freeborn  Nervii  annually 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS       31 

elected  a  committee  of  six  hundred,  which  managed  all  their 
affairs. 

The  number  ten  also  predominated  in  the  great  English 
Anglo-Saxon  Wittenagemot,  or  assembly  of  wise  or  aged 
men.  These  assemblies  were  common  to  all  the  German 
nations,  the  Suevi  and  Alemanni,  the  Danes,  Burgundians, 
Boii,  Vandals,  the  Ostro  and  Visi-Goths,  and  an  additional 
proof  of  their  primitive  nature  is  furnished  by  their  having 
continued  to  exist,  long  after  the  introduction  of  Christianity, 
under  a  monarchical  and  feudal  form  of  government.  Dur- 
ing the  great  migrations,  the  name  of  the  leader  is  often  the 
only  one  mentioned,  so  that  the  relation  in  which  he  stood  to 
the  people  has  become  a  matter  of  uncertainty;  but  when- 
ever his  authority  has  been  more  fully  spoken  of,  it  is  de- 
scribed as  having  been  dependent  on  the  will  of  the  people : 
and  even  among  those  nations  who  wandered  far  and  wide 
for  many  years,  the  power  of  whose  chiefs  became  conse- 
quently more  deeply  rooted,  as,  for  instance,  among  the 
Goths,  the  ancient  division  into  districts  and  the  free  assem- 
bly of  the  people  reappeared,  as  soon  as  they  were  perma- 
nently settled  in  any  of  the  countries  conquered  by  them. 
The  only  points  of  union  in  these  federative  states,  in  which 
each  of  the  districts  was  independent,  consisted  in  the  meet- 
ing of  the  representatives  in  the  general  state  assembly,  and 
in  the  election  of  a  common  leader  in  time  of  war.  It  is  not 
unusual  to  find  many  very  small  tribes  completely  independ- 
ent ;  and  even  in  the  great  states,  the  small  district  assem- 
blies were  co-existent  with  the  diets. 

XI.    Public  Offices  and  Popular  Assemblies 

THE  present  representative  assemblies  of  Schwyz,  Unter- 
walden,  Uri,  Glarus,  and  Appenzell,  give  the  truest  idea  of 
the  ancient  German  mode  of  government,  the  clerk  and 
treasurer  being  the  only  modern  additions.  The  Landam- 
man,  or  magistrate,  and  the  Landeshauptman,  or  captain- 
general  of  the  country,  correspond  with  the  representatives 


52  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

of  the  primordial  districts ;  and  the  accounts  of  Tacitus  and 
Snorri  prove  that  the  power  of  the  ancient  rulers  of  the 
people  did  not  surpass  the  limited  authority  of  the  mod- 
ern Landamman  and  Landhauptman.  Tacitus  says,  "Ger- 
manos  non  juberi,  non  regi,  sed  cuncta  ex  libidine  agere"; 
and  he  makes  Ambiorix,  the  leader  of  the  Lower  Germans, 
say,  that  among  them  the  government  was  so  arranged  that 
he  had  no  more  power  over  the  people  than  they  had  over 
him.  Snorri  relates  that  a  Swedish  king  was  forced,  by  the 
popular  assembly,  whose  decisions  he  had  opposed,  to  desist 
from  an  unjust  war  which  he  was  carrying  on  against  a 
neighboring  nation ;  and  that  they  threatened  to  throw  him 
into  a  morass,  where  many  of  his  predecessors  had  already 
been  cast,  on  account  of  their  opposition  to  the  will  of  the 
people.  Ulphilas,  the  Gothic  bishop,  who,  in  the  fourth 
century,  translated  the  Bible  into  German,  says  that  these 
people  were  governed  by  a  Reiks,  or  judge,  during  peace, 
and  by  a  Thiudans,  or  leader,  in  time  of  war,  the  former 
being  chosen  on  account  of  his  high  birth,  the  latter  on 
account  of  his  illustrious  deeds;  which  agrees  with  the 
account  given  by  Tacitus,  "reges  ex  nobilitate,  duces  ex 
virtute  sumunt;  nee  regibus  infinita  et  libera  potestas"; 
the  people,  however,  always  retaining  the  highest  authority 
and  the  power  of  revoking  their  choice.  The  Reiks  were 
always  priests  belonging  to  an  ancient  race  held  sacred  on 
account  of  its  supposed  descent  from  the  gods;  as  in  the 
north,  where  many  families  derived  their  origin  from  Odin. 
The  pre-eminence  was  always  ceded  to  the  hereditary  high 
priest,  whose  duty  it  was  to  preside  over  the  public  sacrifices 
and  ordeals,  but  whose  authority  merely  rested  on  the  super- 
stition of  the  people,  who,  during  war,  always  elected  the 
bravest  man  as  their  chief,  while  every  freeborn  man  stated 
his  opinion  unreservedly  and  without  respect  to  rank  in  the 
public  council.  The  Burgundians  called  their  high  priest, 
Sinist,  or  eldest,  and  their  war-chiefs,  Hendini.  Other 
names  have  a  similar  origin.  Fiirst,  prince,  princeps; 
Hersog,  from  heer,  an  army,  and  ziehen,  to  lead;  dux,  a 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS       33 

leader,  duke.  The  word  king  is  of  later  origin.  The  Ger- 
man Konig  is  derived  from  Chun,  race,  lineage,  and  was 
first  used  when  families,  distinguished  from  one  generation 
to  another  by  their  illustrious  deeds,  united  the  double  au- 
thority of  judge  and  war-chief  in  themselves.  The  northern 
Lagman,  or  lawyer;  the  English  Alderman,  alter  man,  or 
old  man;  the  Swiss  Amman,  or  magistrate;  the  Belgian 
Ruivart,  from  ruhe,  peace,  and  wahren,  to  preserve,  denote 
the  officers  of  a  peaceful  civil  government.  There  are  prob- 
ably also  titles  still  extant  that  bear  traces  of  the  ancient 
form  of  government  during  war.  The  state  assemblies  were 
generally  convoked  on  the  great  festivals,  and  were  attended 
by  all  the  members  of  the  confederated  provinces;  besides 
this,  on  every  fourteenth  night,  the  customary  unconvoked 
meeting  was  regularly  held  in  each  district,  but  when  any 
urgent  affair  rendered  a  sudden  convocation  necessary,  an 
arrow  (the  symbol  of  war)  was  sent  from  house  to  house, 
or  one  neighbor  either  shouted  to  the  other  or  sounded  the 
horn  through  the  wide  forests.  This  meeting  extraordinary 
was  called  a  bidden  council  (Ding),  or  a  cried  council 
(Schreygeding) .  These  assemblies  were  held  at  night,  the 
moon,  or  Mana,  being  the  protecting  divinity  of  the  council 
(Things).  From  Mana  is  derived  the  word  man,  which  origi- 
nally signified  not  only  the  male  sex,  but  also  the  privileges 
of  an  acting  citizen.  Hence  also  the  word  mahnen,  to  cite 
before  the  tribunal ;  Montag,  Monday,  or  rather  moon-night, 
followed  by  Dienstag,  or  day  of  council  (Thing),  Tuesday. 
The  assemblies  were  held  in  the  open  air  during  the  crescent 
moon,  when  the  people,  armed  as  if  for  battle,  offered  sacri- 
fices of  oxen,  on  which  they  also  feasted,  drank  beer,  mead, 
ir  wine,  and  gave  their  opinions  with  perfect  freedom.  But 
it  was  not  until  the  morning  that  those  who  remained  sober 
formed  themselves  into  a  circle,  and  deliberated  over  the 
councils  of  the  night,  "deliberant  dum  fingere  nesciunt,  con- 
stituunt  dum  errare  non  possunt."  Every  man  had  an 
equal  right  to  speak,  and  the  priest  alone  had  the  power 
of  commanding  silence,  in  the  name  of  the  gods,  whenever 


84  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

the  noise  became  overpowering;  as  at  the  present  day  in  the 
Swiss  assemblies,  the  waibel,  or  beadle,  dressed  in  the  colors 
of  the  country,  calls  out,  "Peace  by  your  oath!"  Applause, 
rattling  of  arms,  or  groaning,  accompanied  the  words  of  the 
speaker :  the  majority  decided.  The  affairs  of  the  state  were 
here  debated  upon,  war  was  declared,  peace  concluded,  and 
judgment  given.  When  no  affairs  of  importance  had  to  be 
transacted,  the  people  only  feasted  and  drank,  while  they 
sang  the  praises  of  fallen  heroes. 

XII.    Public  Property,  Meres  and  Guilds 

THE  Germans  only  gradually  exchanged  their  restless 
nomad  existence  (in  the  Slavonic  tongue  they  are  still  called 
the  Nemez,  from  ne  mesa,  without  a  boundary)  for  perma- 
nent habitations.  The  Suevi,  with  their  division  into  a  hun- 
dred Gauen  or  districts,  were  also  comprehended  in  this 
change,  and  notwithstanding  their  subsequent  migrations, 
this  mode  of  division  was  retained;  and  even  after  their 
adoption  of  the  Alemannic  mode  of  subdividing  the  land 
into  Allods  (allodium),  or  private  freehold  estates,  a  con- 
siderable tract  of  common  land  (almanden)  always  re- 
mained for  the  benefit  of  the  community.  These  tracts  are 
at  the  present  day  frequent  in  Swabia,  where  they  are  in 
general  used  as  sheep-runs.  Meres  were  common  to  all  the 
German  tribes,  and  their  origin  is  intimately  connected  with 
their  free  and  military  institutions.  The  largest  tribes  were 
divided  into  communities  of  a  hundred  men  each,  which  were 
subdivided  into  tens.  The  whole  of  these  communities  were 
mutually  bound  by  an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance,  while 
the  smaller  divisions  and  the  tens  (Zehnmannerzahl,  tien 
tnanna  tala)  were  yet  more  closely  united,  by  an  obligation 
to  assist  each  other  in  their  private  affairs  as  if  they  were 
their  own.  Owing  also  to  these  communities  being  obliged  to 
become  sureties  for  each  other,  they  were  called  Freiburg- 
Bchaften,  from  frei,  free,  and  biirgen,  to  bail;  corporations 
or  guilds  for  mutual  security,  the  members  of  which  were 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS        35 

called  Gildebriider,  Congildones,  Eidhelfer,  from  Eid,  an 
oath,  and  helfen,  to  help,  conjuratores,  who  by  law  were 
accounted  one  and  the  same  individual,  whenever  the  actual 
criminal  could  not  be  discovered.  The  confederation  of  ten 
times  ten,  or  of  every  hundred  freeborn  men,  stood  between 
the  Friborg  and  the  great  community,  and  often  held  a  par- 
ticular assembly,  as,  for  instance,  the  Hundredisthing  in  Nor- 
way. The  chief  man  or  president  of  a  hundred  was  named 
by  the  Franks,  Tunginus,  by  the  Longobardi,  Sculdais,  and 
by  the  Anglo-Saxons,  Hundredarius.  In  Swabia,  the  Hun- 
dreda  appears  at  a  later  period  under  the  name  of  Zent  (de- 
cania).  Even  when  the  larger  districts  belonging  to  the 
Alemanni  fell  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Frankish  counts, 
many  of  the  Zents  in  the  mountainous  country  retained  their 
freedom ;  among  others,  the  peasantry  of  Leutkirch.  As  ten 
denoted  a  Mere,  and  Zent  a  canton,  a  thousand  evidently  stood 
for  a  district  or  Gau  (pagus).  The  Suevi  had  a  hundred 
Gauen,  each  containing  a  thousand  men.  The  division  into 
tens  is  most  easily  traced  in  the  nation  of  the  Visigoths,  who 
named  the  president  over  tens,  Taichunfath;  over  hundreds, 
Hundafath;  and  over  thousands,  Tiufath.  The  population 
of  the  Meres  doubtless  increased.  The  Allods,  at  first  large, 
sufficed  for  the  maintenance  and  settlement  of  the  different 
families,  which  gradually  became  more  and  more  numerous, 
and  finally  outgrew  the  land,  especially  in  countries  remark- 
able for  fertility,  or  favorable  for  commerce.  Each  individ- 
ual possessed  a  freehold  within  the  limits  of  his  Mere ;  but 
highway  and  byway,  forest  and  fell,  fish  and  fowl,  wood  and 
water,  were  the  equal  right  of  all.  These  common  tracts, 
however,  have  no  connection  with  those  that  surround  our 
modern  villages,  which  in  general  grew  out  of  some  enor- 
mous private  estate.  The  ancient  Germans,  whose  institu- 
tions were  always  founded  on  the  principle  of  fraternization, 
possessed  several  other  free  guilds,  besides  the  armed  band 
of  warriors  already  mentioned,  who,  like  young  swarms  of 
bees,  were  driven  forth  from  the  parent  hive,  in  search  of 
a  country  wherein  to  settle ;  for  instance,  the  Opf er  guilds, 


36  THE  HISTORY  OF  GERMANY 

consecrated  to  the  service  of  some  particular  god  (like  the 
present  Catholic  brotherhoods,  consisting  of  different  grada- 
tions, from  the  superior  to  the  servant,  devoted  to  the  service 
of  some  particular  saint);  the  Singer  guilds,  scalds  or  bards; 
the  soothsayers,  Wahrsagergilden  or  Seidmanner,  in  the  north. 
Probably  also  guilds  of  miners,  armorers,  and  salt  manufact- 
urers (Halloren).  The  women  also  formed  religious  associa- 
tions among  themselves,  connected  with  the  worship  of  the 
gods,  and  with  prophesying.  They  also  held  festivals,  at 
which  no  man  was  allowed  to  be  present,  which  gave  rise 
to  the  legend  of  the  assembly  of  witches  on  the  Blocksberg 
on  May-day  eve  ( Walpurgisnacht) .  There  were  also  bands 
of  female  warriors;  and  accounts  of  Amazons,  or  warrior- 
maids,  called  in  the  north  Schildjungfrauen,  or  maidens 
bearing  shields,  are  frequently  met  with  in  the  ancient 
records  of  Germany. 

XIII.   The  Allod  or  Freehold  Property 

IN  whatever  country  the  victorious  Germans  settled,  the 
land  was  always  equally  divided  among  the  freeborn  war- 
riors. The  hereditary  estates  held  by  their  descendants  were 
termed  Allods,  from  Od,  an  estate,  and  were  so  highly  prized 
that,  in  later  times,  small  freeholders  have  been  known  to 
refuse  to  part  with  their  property  in  exchange  for  a  large 
fief,  which  obliged  them  to  render  feudal  service  to  the  king. 
These  hereditary  estates  were  usually  called  Sonnenlehen, 
because  they  were  said  to  have  been  originally  granted  to 
their  possessors  by  the  'sun,  whence  the  formula  of  later 
times,  "This  estate  received  from  God  and  the  glorious  ele- 
ment of  the  suns. ' ' 

As  every  freeborn  man  dwelt  within  the  limits  of  his  Al- 
iod,  the  habitations  lay  at  scattered  distances,  and  neither 
towns  nor  villages  existed.  The  houses  were  built  of  wood, 
and  usually  consisted  of  one  large  apartment,  called  the  hall 
or  Saal,  in  the  center  of  which  stood  the  hearth,  the  house- 
wife's seat  of  honor.  In  wealthy  families,  the  women  had 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS       37 

a  separate  house,  the  Frauenhaus  (Frauenzimmer,  Schrein, 
a  shrine;  Gadem,  a  chamber);  there  were  also  a  house  for 
sacrifice,  dwellings  for  attendants  and  slaves,  cellars,  barns, 
and  stables.  These  houses  were  surrounded  by  gardens, 
cornfields,  meadows,  and  forests.  The  boundaries  of  the 
Allods  were  carefully  marked,  and  it  was  customary  at  the 
setting  of  a  landmark,  which  was  either  a  stone  or  a  tree, 
to  assemble  all  the  children  in  the  neighborhood  on  the  spot, 
and  to  box  their  ears,  in  order  to  impress  the  circumstance 
and  the  locality  more  deeply  on  their  minds.1  An  Allod 
could  only  be  alienated  with  the  consent  of  the  family. 
Whatever  the  crimes  of  a  freeborn  man,  the  government 
could  not  deprive  him  of  his  estate,  which  was  regarded  as 
sacred,  and  as  inseparable  from  the  possessor,  whose  free- 
dom, being  derived  from  it,  was  alienable  only  with  his  prop- 
erty. It  was  illegal  for  any  one  to  enter  an  Allod  without 
the  permission  of  the  owner,  who,  if  abused  or  maltreated 
by  a  stranger  in  his  own  house,  or  within  his  own  limits, 
received  double  or  treble  indemnification.  The  state  had 
no  right  to  seize  the  person  of  any  individual,  or  that  of  his 
guest,  in  his  own  house,  a  spot  more  sacred  in  the  eyes  of 
the  ancient  Germans  than  our  churches  are  in  ours.  Even 
if  the  culprit  had  become  the  object  of  public  vengeance  by 
his  crimes,  and  had  been  declared  out  of  the  pale  of  the  law, 
no  one  ventured  to  cross  his  threshold,  but  the  house  was  set 
fire  to  from  without.  England  now  alone  preserves  this  an- 
cient privilege,  and  realizes  the  saying,  "Every  man's  house 
is  his  castle."  The  Allods  were  only  hereditary  in  the  male 
line,  females  being  excluded  from  the  succession  on  account 
of  their  being  unable  to  exercise  the  privileges  and  duties  of 
a  freeholder,  but  every  member  of  the  family  had  a  right  to 
live  in  the  house,  and  to  be  maintained  on  the  produce  of  the 
Allod,  nor  could  a  father  disinherit  his  children.  "When  the 
eldest  son  took  sole  possession  of  the  estate,  he  was  obliged 

1  Until  very  lately,  a  somewhat  similar  custom,  called  "the  bumping  of  the 
boundary,"  the  spectators  being  bumped  together  on  the  occasion,  was  still  kept 
up  in  some  parts  of  England. — Trans. 


38  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

to  give  to  each  of  the  other  kinsfolk  a  portion  of  the  personal 
property,  and  to  apply  part  of  his  revenues  to  their  mainte- 
nance. A  family  was  called  a  Sippe,  Sippschaft,  or  Mag- 
schaft,  and  was  divided  into  Schwertmagen,  kinsmen  who 
carried  swords,  and  Spillmagen,  kinswomen  who  busied 
themselves  in  spinning.  The  father  being  the  legal  repre- 
sentative of  the  whole  family,  the  slaves  included,  spoke  for 
them  before  the  tribunal,  and  was  their  guardian,  Mund, 
mouth — mundium,  to  whom  they  owed  implicit  obedience, 
being  under  his  jurisdiction,  bann — bannum;  the  kinsmen 
remaining  under  his  bann  until  they  entered  foreign  service, 
or  married,  when  they  became  selbstmundig,  independent, 
and  were  freed  from  the  bann;  hence  the  word  freien,  to 
marry.  The  property  received  on  these  occasions  was  called 
Abban,  appanage.  Those  who  remained  unmarried  always 
continued  under  the  bann  of  the  paternal  estate,  the  limits 
(Gehage)  of  which  they  were  not  permitted  to  quit;  hence 
the  word  Hagestolzer^  old  bachelor,  from  hag,  hedge,  and 
stolz,  proud.  The  Spillmagen  were  always  under  tutelage ; 
the  bridegroom  purchasing  the  right  of  guardianship  from 
the  parents  of  the  bride,  who  henceforward  submitted  to  his 
authority. 

XIV.    The  Division  into  Classes 

THE  Suevian  nations,  when  in  their  half  nomad  state, 
recognized  but  one  description  of  slaves,  viz.,  the  prisoners 
taken  in  war,  who  were  bound  to  serve  them.  But  when 
the  allodial  system  was  introduced,  many  of  the  slaves  were 
manumitted  by  the  Frankish  Saxon  tribes,  and  furnished 
with  houses  and  land,  on  condition  of  performing  certain 
services,  and  of  paying  a  certain  tribute  to  their  lord ;  it  also 
sometimes  happened  that  the  inhabitants  of  a  conquered 
country  were  permitted  to  retain  a  part  of  their  landed 
property,  for  which  they  engaged  to  perform  certain  duties; 
thus  a  new  class  of  bondsmen  was  created,  distinct  from  the 
real  slave,  by  their  being  merely  dependent  by  their  vassal- 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS       39 

age  on  the  feudal  lords.  They  were  called  by  the  Saxons, 
Lazzi;  by  the  Franks,  Liti;  whence  the  German  Leute, 
people ;  and  their  property,  in  contradistinction  to  the  Allod 
(freehold),  was  called  a  Feod,  or  fief  (fe-od,  transferable 
property).  The  word  fe  comes  from  Vieh,  cattle,  as  the 
Latin  pecunia^  from  pecus,  the  only  transferable  property 
at  first  consisting  of  cattle ;  hence  also  the  people  were  called 
Feodales,  Vassi,  Vasalli,  and  thus  simply  originated  the 
feudal  system,  which  spread  so  widely  at  a  later  period. 
Tacitus  speaks  commendably  of  the  treatment  of  the 
slaves  in  Germany.  It  is  true  that  they  were  sometimes 
killed  by  their  masters  in  moments  of  irritation,  but  it  was 
illegal  to  strike  or  to  ill-treat  them.  These  slaves,  at  first 
few,  gradually  increased  in  such  number  as  at  length  to 
necessitate  the  division  of  the  large  estates  into  numerous 
fiefs,  and  the  feudal  system  became  general.  The  freeborn 
man  was  named  Germanus,  Arimannus,  Herimannus,  Baro; 
and,  among  the  Saxons,  was  distinguished  by  the  designa- 
tion of  Friling  from  the  Edeling  or  nobleman.  It  is  not 
very  clear  in  what  nobility  consisted  in  the  pagan  times; 
that  there  were  two  kinds  is  however  certain,  one  derived 
from  mythical  descent,  which  naturally  was  restricted  to  a 
few  families;  the  other,  gained  by  conquest.  "When  whole 
nations  migrated,  every  man  of  whatever  class  received  an 
Allod  as  his  share  of  the  newly  conquered  land;  or  when  a 
horde  overran  a  country,  whose  inhabitants  they  either  could 
or  would  not  completely  reduce  to  submission,  they  tolerated 
them  as  subordinates,  manumitted  their  former  slaves,  and 
promoting  the  freeborn  to  the  rank  of  noble,  created  a  purely 
political  class  of  nobility  far  outnumbering  that  of  the  hered- 
itary nobles.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  name  Edeling,  in 
the  north,  Oedling,  is  derived  from  Od,  Allod,  and  therefore 
simply  means  the  possessor  of  an  estate.  For  the  same  rea- 
son, the  Visigothic  noble  was  entitled  Garding,  from  the 
word  Gards,  which,  according  to  Ulphilas,  signifies  an  es- 
tate, as  well  as  a  garden.  Perhaps  the  nobles  were  origi- 
nally only  the  firstborn  sons,  or  heirs  to  the  estates,  while 


40  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

the  Frilinge  denoted  the  portionless  younger  sons;  but  no 
sooner  did  the  word  Friling  denote  a  separate  class,  than 
pride  of  birth  asserted  its  claims,  and  even  the  poor  younger 
sons  of  the  nobility  were  called  Edelinge.  Yet  it  is  nowhere 
to  be  found  that  the  Frilinge  were  oppressed  or  domineered 
over  by  the  Edelinge ;  among  the  Saxons,  on  the  contrary, 
Edelinge,  Frilinge,  and  even  Lazzi,  in  equal  numbers,  and 
with  equal  right,  conducted  the  public  affairs;  and  when 
the  Franks  declared  a  war  of  extirpation  against  the  Sax- 
ons, the  Edelinge  attempted,  by  betraying  the  Frilinge  and 
Lazzi,  to  make  friends  of  the  Franks,  and  to  get  the  whole 
of  the  formerly  equally  divided  power  into  their  own  hands. 
Among  the  Germans,  who  acknowledged  no  law  as  bind- 
ing, in  the  framing  of  which  they  had  not  either  assisted  or 
to  which  they  did  not  voluntarily  and  individually  assent, 
there  always  existed  men,  who,  naturally  fierce  and  stub- 
born, resisted  every  law,  and  were  unfettered  by  any  moral 
obligation.  These  men  were  called  Wildfange  (wild  ani- 
mals), and  were  treated  as  wolves  or  outlaws.  They  were 
in  the  north  Barserkers,  ravishers,  or  lawless  Huns,  whose 
wild  daring  caused  them  to  be  eagerly  taken  into  foreign 
service.  The  owner  of  an  Allod  who,  through  caprice,  re- 
mained at  home  and  took  no  part  in  the  state,  was  called 
Biesterfrei,  Verbiesterte,  bestialized  (or  Versessen,  possessed 
by  a  demon),  and  was  considered  beyond  the  pale  of  the 
law,  inasmuch  as  he  recognized  none ;  and  if  he  committed 
a  crime,  he  was  delivered  up  to  public  vengeance ;  his  well 
was  choked  up,  his  house  destroyed  by  fire  or  unroofed,  and 
then  razed  to  the  ground,  but  no  one  ventured  to  break  open 
the  door. 

XV.    Single  Combat  and  Fines  (Wergeld) 

IT  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  ancient  Germans  had  no 
public,  but  only  a  private  law ;  all  their  oldest  laws  merely 
referring  to  the  mutual  rights  of  the  freeborn,  and  to  those 
of  the  freeborn  over  the  unf ree ;  the  state  assembly  taking 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS       41 

cognizance  of  and  deciding  all  public  and  private  affairs: 
beyond  these  decisions  there  was  no  law. 

The  laws  chiefly  aimed  at  providing  security  and  indem- 
nity. To  every  individual  they  secured  his  life,  his  liberty, 
his  honor,  and  his  property ;  or  in  case  of  injury  and  depri- 
vation, an  indemnity  or  commutation,  of  which  there  were 
only  two  kinds,  single  combat  and  fines.  In  the  earliest 
times,  every  one  avenged  himself  as  he  could,  and  it  was 
the  especial  duty  of  a  family,  a  member  of  which  had  been 
injured  or  murdered,  to  avenge  him  to  the  uttermost.  Sin- 
gle combat,  according  to  law  (and  the  ancient  laws  were 
very  strict  in  this  particular),  seems  to  have  been  intended 
as  a  check  upon  a  custom  conducing  to  so  much  disorder 
and  bloodshed.  According  to  the  regulations,  the  advan- 
tages of  ground,  light,  sun,  and  weapons,  were  to  be  equal 
on  both  sides ;  no  Nidingswerk  or  underhand  means  were  to 
be  used,  and  no  further  vengeance  was  to  be  sought,  how- 
ever the  combat,  which  was  regarded  as  the  judgment  of 
God,  might  terminate.  The  Wergeld  or  fine  seems  to  have 
been  introduced  at  a  later  period,  as,  for  instance,  in  cases 
where  no  single  combat  could  take  place,  or  for  lesser  in- 
juries, when  the  injured  person  was  compensated  by  the 
offender  in  cattle  or  weapons,  according  to  the  value  of  the 
injured  object;  for  this  purpose  he  could  be  deprived  of  all 
he  possessed,  except  of  his  Allod,  which,  under  all  circum- 
stances, was  inalienable.  There  were  even  cases  where  the 
offender,  unable  to  make  full  restitution,  was  obliged  to  serve 
the  person  he  had  injured  for  twenty  years,  and  yet  was 
never  deprived  of  his  Allod.  In  course  of  time,  this  system 
became  more  definite,  and  the  value  of  the  injured  object 
was  estimated  in  eight  different  degrees. 

In  the  first  place,  according  to  the  sex  of  the  injured 
person.  Injuries  offered  to  women  were  not  only  estimated 
doubly  or  trebly  higher  than  those  offered  to  men,  but  the 
law  in  this  respect  also  permitted  private  vengeance  to  be 
taken,  and  the  offender  to  be  deprived  of  his  liberty  or  of  his 
life. 


42  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

Secondly,  According  to  the  rank  of  the  injured  person. 
The  head-man  of  a  district  was  estimated  very  highly,  on 
account  of  the  duties  he  had  to  perform.  The  noble  was 
valued  higher  than  the  freeborn,  the  freeborn  higher  than 
the  people,  and  they  higher  than  the  slaves. 

Thirdly,  According  to  the  value  of  the  injured  object. 
Honor  and  liberty  were  valued  higher  than  life,  person,  or 
property.  Also  all  attacks  on  the  property  or  person  of  an 
individual,  which  in  any  way  entailed  dishonor,  received  a 
much  higher  compensation.  Rape,  injuries  to  guests,  em- 
bassadors,  hostages,  and  especially  to  strangers,  besides  theft, 
robbing  and  insulting  the  dead,  were  doubly  and  trebly,  nay, 
sometimes  nine  times  more  severely  punished.  In  bodily  in- 
juries, every  limb  and  every  devisable  sort  of  wound  had  its 
fixed  value;  toes  and  teeth  were  especially  and  individually 
prized;  and  injuries  done  to  property  were  as  definitely  regu- 
lated ;  every  article  that  could  come  under  the  head  of  goods 
and  chattels  having  its  comparative  value. 

Fourthly,  According  to  the  sex  of  the  offender.  A 
woman  was  punished  more  severely  than  a  man,  because 
she  was  considered  less  capable  of  the  commission  of  a 
crime,  and  because,  when  injured,  she  received  a  higher 
indemnity. 

Fifthly,  According  to  the  rank  of  the  offender.  When  a 
Friling  committed  a  crime,  he  paid  more  than  a  Laz,  and 
a  Laz  more  than  a  slave,  according  to  the  principle  that  he 
who  enjoys  higher  privileges  has  higher  duties  to  perform. 

Sixthly,  According  to  the  intention  of  the  offender.  An 
unintentional  injury  was  only  lightly  rated,  and  sometimes, 
according  to  the  circumstances,  completely  passed  over,  on 
which  account  the  mere  intention  of  committing  an  injury 
was  almost  as  severely  punished  as  if  the  injury  had  in 
reality  been  committed. 

Seventhly,  According  to  the  mode  of  injury.  For  in- 
stance, whoever  killed  another  with  an  iron  weapon  was 
held  less  criminal  than  he  who  murdered  another  with  a 
piece  of  wood  or  with  his  hands. 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS        43 

Eighthly,  According  to  the  place.  Whoever  injured  an- 
other in  his  own  house,  had  to  pay  doubly  or  trebly  higher 
than  if  he  had  injured  him  elsewhere ;  and  the  offense  was 
considered  equally  bad  when  committed  on  holy  ground,  in 
the  assembly  of  the  people,  or  on  the  highroad.  During 
war  time  the  Wergeld  was  trebled ;  discipline  and  good  order 
being  then  of  still  higher  importance. 

However,  notwithstanding  the  introduction  of  the  "Wer- 
geld, single  combat  remained  in  full  force  in  matters  of 
honor  and  in  doubtful  cases ;  when,  by  ordinary  means,  the 
truth  could  not  be  discovered,  the  decision  was  left  to  God. 
Besides  the  ordeal  by  single  combat,  customary  between 
freeborn  men,  there  was  also  that  by  fire  and  water,  to 
which  women  and  slaves  were  subjected;  the  hand  or  the 
foot  being  held  upon  red-hot  iron,  or  in  boiling  water. 

The  mundium  or  guardianship  of  the  free  owner  of  an 
Allod  over  his  family,  his  people  (the  conditionally  unfree) 
and  his  slaves  (the  personally  unfree),  whose  reciprocal  obli- 
gations have  already  been  explained,  was  also  regulated  by 
the  laws. 

XVI.    Courts  of  Justice  and  Laws 

THE  Germans  had  the  axiom,  "Where  there  is  no  ac- 
cuser there  is  no  judge."  If  the  fine  enforced  by  law  were 
voluntarily  paid,  the  case  was  not  brought  before  the  court. 
The  master  of  a  house,  or  a  whole  Sippschaft  (kinsfolk),  or 
two,  in  cases  in  which  both  were  concerned,  judged  all  fam- 
ily matters.  The  Friborg,  Hundreda  or  Guild,  took  cogni- 
zance of  all  matters  relating  to  Meres  and  Guilds,  and  all 
affairs  of  higher  importance  came  before  the  great  general 
assembly,  and  were  decided  by  the  freeborn  members.  It 
was  not  until  a  much  later  period,  when  the  Christian  mon- 
archs  increased  in  power,  that  the  people  were  deprived  of 
the  right  of  holding  open  courts  of  justice,  and  the  judges 
(Schopperi),  who  were  bound  by  oath  to  administer  justice, 
were  restricted  to  a  limited  number. 


44  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

In  ancient  times  these  courts  were  held  in  the  open  air, 
where  all  transactions  were  conducted  by  word  of  mouth, 
and  they  formed  a  principal  part  of  the  business  of  each 
community.  The  priestly  judge  of  peace  sat  in  a  chair, 
staff  in  hand,  with  his  legs  crossed  hi  sign  of  impartiality 
and  tranquillity  of  mind,  and  his  face  turned  toward  the  east 
during  the  new  moon,  in  order  to  imply  that  the  administra- 
tion of  justice  was  as  sure  as  the  increase  of  that  orb.  On 
the  right  hand  stood  the  accuser,  on  the  left  the  accused,  en- 
circled by  the  armed  community,  who  pronounced  the  ver- 
dict ;  the  kinsfolk  and  confederates  of  the  Mere  or  Guild,  to 
which  the  accused  belonged,  standing  around  him,  as  con- 
juratores;  i.e.,  they  swore  that  they  knew  him  to  be  an 
honorable  man,  and  believed  what  he  said.  If  the  truth 
could  not  be  discovered,  the  ordeal  decided  the  point ;  but  if 
it  were  proved  by  witnesses,  the  sentence  was  pronounced 
and  executed.  Corporeal  punishment  was  unheard  of  among 
them,  "neque  vincire  ne  verberare  quidem  permissum, "  Tac. 
Adam  Von  Bremen  says  of  the  ancient  Saxons,  "decollari 
malunt,  quam  verberari."  Prisons  were  equally  unknown, 
all  injuries  being  expiated  by  the  "Wergeld,  except  such  as 
were  considered  irreparable,  which  were  punished  by  death. 
The  priest  alone  had  the  power  of  passing  sentence  on  the 
criminal  in  the  name  of  God.  Capital  punishment  was 
awarded  to  all  traitors,  deserters,  thieves,  and  adulterers; 
in  a  word,  all  crimes  against  man's  honor  or  dignity  and 
against  female  chastity.  Beyond  the  sentence  of  being 
burned  alive  in  his  house  or  decapitated,  passed  upon  men, 
and  that  of  being  hanged,  drowned,  or  buried  alive,  passed 
upon  women  and  cowards,  there  was  no  other  mode  of  pub- 
lic punishment  of  death,  and  these  were  only  awarded  in 
extreme  cases.  The  laws  appear  to  have  been,  like  other 
ancient  customs,  originally  handed  down  by  word  of  mouth; 
and  in  order  the  more  easily  to  retain  them  in  the  memory, 
they  were  usually  arranged  in  assonance  and  rhythm.  Frag- 
ments of  ancient  versified  laws  are  still  extant,  and  a  num- 
ber of  assonances  are  still  made  use  of  in  our  laws,  sucli  as 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS       45 

Bank  und  Bett,  bed  and  board;  Bausch  und  Bogen,  in  the 
lump;  braun  und  blau,  brown  and  blue;  Dach  und  Fach 
erhalten,  to  keep  in  repair ;  dick  und  dunn,  thick  and  thin ; 
Erb  und  Eigen,  heir  and  inheritance ;  frank  und  frei,  frank 
and  free;  gang  und  gdbe,  current;  Gut  und  Blut,  property 
and  person;  Haus  und  -Ho/,  house  and  land;  Haut  und 
Haar,  hide  and  hair ;  Herz  und  Hand,  heart  and  hand ;  los 
und  ledig,  free  and  single ;  Hulle  und  Fulle,  plenty ;  Kind 
und  Kegel,  child  and  toy;  Land  und  Leute,  land  and  peo- 
ple ;  Mann  und  Maus,  man  and  mouse ;  Nacht  und  Nebel, 
night  and  mist ;  Rath  und  That,  word  and  deed ;  Ruh  und 
Hast,  rest  and  repose;  richten  und  schlichten,  to  judge  and 
adjust;  Schut  und  Schirm,  shelter  and  defense;  Stein  und 
Bein,  stone  and  bone;  Stock  und  Block,  stock  and  block; 
Weg  und  Steg,  highway  and  byway;  weit  und  breit,  far 
and  wide;  Wind  und  Wetter,  wind  and  weather,  etc.  To 
these  also  belong  the  significant  numbers,  to  summons  three 
times,  four  roads,  twelve  confederates,  fourteen  nights,  thirty 
days'  respite;  besides  a  number  of  signs,  as,  for  instance,  the 
right  of  fishing  in  a  river  extended  as  far  as  one  could  cast  a 
hammer  (the  symbol  of  the  god  Thor)  from  the  bank;  an- 
other right  extended  as  far  as  one  could  see  a  white  horse, 
or  hear  the  blast  of  the  huntsman's  horn.  Indemnity  for  a 
wound  was  according  to  the  distance  the  sound  caused  by 
the  splintered  bone  taken  from  it,  when  thrown  into  a  hol- 
low shield,  could  be  heard.  The  priestly  judge  held  in  his 
hand  a  staff  (hence  the  scepter  of  a  king),  while  adjudicat- 
ing, which  he  broke  asunder  when  passing  sentence  of  death. 
Grass  and  earth  were  emblematical  of  submission.  Who- 
ever was  charged  with  the  debt  of  a  deceased  kinsman, 
which  it  was  out  of  his  power  to  pay,  cleared  himself  by 
going  to  the  four  corners  of  his  house  and  throwing  dust 
behind  him.  A  form  of  oath  among  men  was  by  touching 
their  beards ;  and  among  women,  by  touching  their  breast  or 
plaited  hair.  A  bargain  was  concluded  by  shaking  hands, 
which  was  so  commonly  in  use  that  "the  German  shake  of 
the  hand"  has  become  the  proverbial  sign  of  loyal  cordiality. 


46  THE  HISTORY  OF  GERMANY 


XVII.    Hospitality 

THIS  virtue  of  ancient  times  was  greatly  esteemed  by  our 
forefathers,  who  regarded  as  a  crime  the  dismissal  of  the 
peaceful  wayfarer  from  their  doors.  A  stranger  no  sooner 
appeared  than  he  was  invited  to  take  shelter  beneath  their 
lowly  roof,  and  offered  food  and  a  night's  lodging;  and  it 
was  considered  disgraceful  first  to  inquire  of  him  who  he 
was,  whence  he  came,  or  whither  he  was  going.  As  long 
as  he  remained  in  the  house  he  was  a  guest,  and  any  injury 
committed  against  him  was  severely  punished  by  the  law, 
even  though  he  were  a  fugitive  criminal ;  the  master  of  the 
house  was  bound  to  defend  him  to  the  death,  and  as  he  was 
indemnified  for  every  injury  offered  to  his  guest  as  if  it  were 
offered  to  himself,  he  was  also  liable  to  be  punished  in  his 
stead  if  his  guest  committed  a  crime  while  dwelling  beneath 
his  roof ;  no  one  could  dismiss  a  guest  unless  forced  to  do  so 
by  poverty,  when  it  was  incumbent  on  him  to  accompany 
him  to  the  nearest  dwelling,  and  there  procure  for  him  the 
comforts  which  it  was  not  in  his  own  power  to  bestow.  The 
guest  was  presented  on  his  departure  with  a  parting  gift, 
and  if  able  gave  something  in  return.  In  later  times,  hospi- 
tality and  many  other  good  customs  fell  into  disuse,  although 
attempted  to  be  enforced  by  law,  by  which  it  was  ordained 
that  no  one  was  obliged  to  harbor  a  guest  longer  than  three 
days,  whence  arose  the  saying,  "A  three  days'  guest  is 
everywhere  cursed,"  for  there  is  no  doubt  that,  in  later 
times,  this  good  old  custom  was  very  much  abused.  The 
injurious  treatment  of  a  peaceful  wayfarer  on  the  public 
road  was  punished  with  double  severity  than  when  the 
offense  was  committed  on  a  native.  Every  foreign  way- 
farer might  pluck,  as  he  went  along,  three  fruits  from  a 
tree,  or  take  three  sheaves  from  a  field,  or  three  fish  from 
a  pond,  if  driven  by  necessity;  whence  came  the  saying, 
"Three  are  free."  To  deliver  a  man,  who  had  fled  for  pro- 
tection to  a  neighboring  tribe,  to  his  pursuers,  was  consid- 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS        47 

ered  an  indelible  disgrace,  and  was  unheard  of  among  the 
Germans.  The  Gepidae  preferred  total  destruction  to  the 
commission  of  such  an  execrable  crime  as  the  violation  of 
the  rights  of  hospitality.  A  Norwegian  queen  once  fled  for 
safety  to  Sweden.  The  Norwegians  demanded  her  surrender, 
and  the  Swedish  king  even  sent  his  warriors  to  take  her  by 
force;  but  Hakon,  one  of  his  subjects,  a  wealthy  peasant, 
with  whom  she  had  taken  refuge,  opposed  them  sword  in 
hand,  until  she  had  reached  a  safer  retreat. 

The  customs  of  hospitality  greatly  conduced  to  sociability, 
friendship,  and  marriage;  and  it  was  from  the  wayfarers, 
who  carried  intelligence  of  the  occurrence  of  remarkable 
events  from  one  district  to  another,  that  the  people  gained 
information  of  the  changes  that  took  place  in  distant 
countries. 

XVIII.    Customs  and  Arts 

As  a  numerous  offspring  was  considered  honorable,  celi- 
bacy was  consequently  a  mark  of  disgrace.  As  soon  as  the 
children  were  born,  they  were  plunged  into  cold  water; 
their  education  was  severe  and  hardy;  they  were  taught 
swimming,  wrestling,  endurance  of  hunger,  heat,  and  cold, 
the  arts  of  the  chase,  and  the  use  of  weapons.  It  is  recorded 
of  a  leader  of  the  Teutones  that  he  was  able  to  leap,  with 
the  greatest  ease,  over  six  horses.  A  favorite  amusement  of 
the  Germans  was  the  sword  dance,  in  which  the  young  men 
danced  naked,  with  the  most  expert  and  curious  movements, 
between  sharp  swords  and  the  points  of  lances,  without  re- 
ceiving the  slightest  injury.1  As  soon  as  a  young  man 
attained  sufficient  strength,  he  was  allowed  to  take  part  in 
military  expeditions,  and  was  solemnly  declared  capable  of 
bearing  arms.  Among  the  Catti,  every  boy  wore  an  iron 
ring  on  his  arm,  which  he  durst  not  take  off  until  he  had 
slain  an  enemy. 


1  The  Scotch  Highlanders  and  the  natives  of  Hindostan  still  practice  a  sword 
dance  bearing  great  similarity  to  that  above  described. — Trans. 


48  THE   HISTORY  OF  GERMANY 

Tillage  was  performed  by  the  slaves,  and  the  domestic 
concerns  were  managed  by  the  women,  while  the  freeborn 
men  thought  only  of  war  and  wild  adventure,  which,  in  time 
of  peace,  were,  in  some  degree,  replaced  by  the  chase,  of 
which  they  were  passionately  fond,  and  for  which  their 
enormous  forests,  well  stocked  with  game,  afforded  free 
scope.  They  tried  their  strength  in  the  rough  encounter 
with  the  bear  and  the  wild  buffalo;  and  early  introduced 
the  more  gentle  art  of  falconry.  The  white  falcon  was  held 
sacred,  and  was  esteemed  by  its  owner  as  his  chiefest  treas- 
ure. At  home,  the  warrior  slept  on  the  bearskin;  hence, 
whoever  remained  at  home  so  long  as  to  acquire  a  distaste 
for  exertion  was  termed  a  Barenhauter  (Haut,  a  skin). 
Tacitus  expressly  mentions  that  they  whiled  away  their 
leisure  hours  with  gambling,  which  they  carried  to  such  a 
pitch  that,  in  the  delirium  of  excitement,  they  would  stake 
their  property  and  their  persons  on  a  throw  of  the  dice. 
From  the  earliest  down  to  the  present  times,  the  Germans 
have  been  reputed  the  greatest  topers  in  the  world.  The 
present  fashion  of  toasting  arose  from  an  ancient  pagan  cus- 
tom. At  every  public  banquet,  the  great  Bragabecher  was 
first  drained,  in  honor  of  fallen  heroes ;  then  the  Minnebecher, 
in  honor  of  deceased  kinsmen  and  ladye  loves.  Passing  the 
cup  round,  drinking  to  a  person  or  for  a  wager,  trials  of  su- 
periority in  the  power  of  drinking,  etc.,  are  ancient  customs 
of  guilds,  that  met  for  the  purpose  of  carousing.  Beer  and 
mead  were  first  made  in  Germany,  where  the  use  of  wine 
was,  nevertheless,  early  introduced.  "When  Helico  for  the 
first  time  brought  grapes  across  the  Alps,  the  people  rose 
en  masse,  and  resolved  to  migrate  to  the  land  where  grew 
this  golden  fruit,  and  many  thousand  Germans,  on  reaching 
Italy,  fell  victims  to  excess. 

The  mother  of  the  family  ruled  the  entire  household,  and 
was  treated  with  the  greatest  deference  by  the  women,  slaves 
and  children.  She  superintended  the  cleanliness  of  the  house, 
the  kitchens,  the  cellars,  the  table,  and  the  beds ;  the  making 
of  the  clothes,  and  the  brewing  of  beer  and  mead;  she  was 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS   OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS        49 

also  acquainted  with  surgery,  and  busied  herself  with  the 
preparation  of  balsams  for  the  wounds  of  the  men;  and 
finally,  she  was  the  family  prophetess,  and  on  important 
occasions  held  communication  with  the  gods,  by  means  of 
mysterious  signs,  and  the  casting  of  lots.  "Whatever  the 
Germans  did,  had  merely  reference  to  the  present  moment; 
even  their  arts  aimed  no  further,  and  all  their  care  was  ex- 
pended on  their  clothing  and  armor.  Noble  warriors  fabri- 
cated costly  weapons,  and  noble  ladies  spun  and  wove  cloth 
for  themselves  and  their  households,  an  art  brought  by  them 
to  a  high  degree  of  perfection.  In  the  earlier  ages,  the 
armor,  weapons,  shields,  and  war  attire,  drinking  horns, 
and  other  articles,  were  skillfully  and  curiously  ornamented 
with  colors  and  various  ingenious  devices.  In  the  north, 
the  ships  were  built  in  the  form  of  different  animals,  gen- 
erally in  that  of  dragons,  and  were  adorned  with  golden 
images.  Wealthy  monarchs  are  said  to  have  sometimes 
used  purple  sails.  All  these  arts,  however,  merely  conduced 
to  temporary  grandeur,  and  the  Germans  were  totally  un- 
acquainted with  works,  such  as  public  edifices,  magnificent 
temples,  and  lordly  palaces,  calculated  to  immortalize  their 
name. 

XIX.    Honor  of  Women 

IN  pagan  times  women  were  generally  despised,  and  re- 
garded as  beings  of  an  inferior  order,  but  among  the  Ger- 
mans, even  in  the  earliest  ages,  they  were  considered  as 
standing  equal  in  point  of  honor  to  the  men,  and  in  many 
respects  were  even  acknowledged  to  be  superior  (inesse  quin 
etiarn  sanctum  aliquid  et  providum  putant,  Tac.).  The 
honor  in  which  women  were  held  exercised  so  great  an  in- 
fluence over  the  customs  and  character  of  the  Germans,  and 
consequently  over  their  arts  and  poetry,  as  to  produce  the 
romance  by  which  their  productions  are  mainly  distinguished 
from  those  of  the  East,  the  Graeco-Roman  or  antique. 

The  reverence  in  which  women  were  held  depended  on 
the  purity  of  their  lives;  hence  by  custom  and  by  law  they 
GERMANY.  VOL.  I. — 3 


50  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

were  judged  not  only  by  the  outward  honor  they  received, 
but  also  by  their  inward  innocence.  Tacitus,  when  extolling 
the  unbending  severity  of  German  manners,  and  the  sanctity 
attached  to  chastity,  says,  "that  much  as  the  German  merits 
praise,  his  morality,  as  being  the  foundation  of  all  his  other 
virtues,  deserves  the  highest  commendation ;  nee  ullam  mo- 
rum  partem  magis  laudaveris." 

Young  maidens  were  brought  up  in  the  retirement  of 
their  homes,  where  they  busied  themselves  in  domestic  em- 
ployments, and  only  associated  with  the  men  whenever  a 
guest  arrived  at  the  paternal  abode.  They  did  not  marry  so 
early,  nor  did  their  constitutions  develop  so  rapidly,  as  those 
of  the  more  luxurious  inhabitants  of  southern  climes ;  and  it 
is  still  a  fact,  that  the  people  of  the  north,  especially  those  of 
the  mountainous  regions  who  have  remained  faithful  to  the 
hardy  customs  of  their  forefathers,  do  not  arrive  at  puberty 
so  soon  as  the  inhabitants  of  cities.  A  German  maiden  sel- 
dom married  before  her  twentieth  year,  or  a  man  before  his 
thirtieth,  and  it  was  to  this  custom  that  the  Romans  attrib- 
uted the  blooming  health  and  robust  strength  of  our  hardy 
ancestors. 

An  insult  offered  to  female  modesty  or  honor  was  deemed 
an  unpardonable  crime,  and  punished  with  death.  The  vir- 
ginal wreath,  worn  by  the  bride  on  her  wedding-day,  was 
apparently  an  ancient  German  custom;  no  maiden  could 
wear  it  whose  honor  was  not  spotless.  Slander,  if  proved, 
was  punished  with  unusual  severity;  rape,  under  whatever 
circumstances,  was  punished  by  the  most  degrading  death, 
and  even  late  in  the  Middle  Ages,  we  find  decreed  (in  Schwa- 
benspiegel's  collection  of  laws),  that  in  the  house  in  which 
such  a  crime  had  been  committed,  all  it  contained,  even 
down  to  the  cattle,  should  be  deprived  of  life,  and  the  house 
itself  razed  to  the  ground.  The  untamable  ferocity  of  the 
men  often  occasioned  the  commission  of  this  crime,  for  that 
reason  the  more  strictly  guarded  against  by  the  laws;  and 
the  more  ancient  their  date,  the  more  certainly  is  the  punish- 
ment of  death  decreed  by  them.  But  among  the  Frisii,  the 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS       51 

woman  was  placed  between  her  parents  and  her  ravisher ;  if 
she  turned  toward  the  latter,  the  crime  was  forgiven;  but 
if  she  turned  to  the  former,  the  criminal  was  condemned  to 
death. 

One  of  the  best  and  wisest  customs  was  that  of  daugh- 
ters being  portionless,  so  that  a  woman's  attraction  was  her 
virtue  and  beauty,  and  not  her  wealth.  Tacitus  relates  that 
the  bride  only  brought  some  weapons,  as  a  sign  to  the  bride- 
groom that  he  must  in  future  protect  her ;  and  that  he,  on 
his  part,  paid  to  her  father,  brother  or  guardian,  a  sum  fixed 
by  law,  upon  which  the  right  of  guardianship,  or  that  em- 
powering him  to  appear  in  her  stead  before  the  tribunal,  was 
handed  over  to  him.  The  affianced  pair  shook  hands,  and 
exchanged  kisses  and  rings.  In  pagan  times  it  was  usual  to 
place  a  drawn  and  sharp  sword  for  three  nights,  between  a 
newly  married  pair,  from  a  religious  superstition.  The 
Hochzeit,  or  wedding  (from  hohezeit,  high  time),  was  re- 
garded, as  its  name  denoted,  as  the  highest  point  in  life,  and 
was  celebrated  as  publicly  as  possible,  amid  the  shouts  of  the 
guests.  The  day  after  the  wedding,  the  husband  presented 
his  wife  with  a  gift,  called  the  morning  gift,  of  which  she 
could  not  be  deprived;  and  if  any  one  disputed  her  right, 
she  proved  it  by  placing  her  hand  on  her  breast,  and  swear- 
ing it  was  her  morning  gift.  It  was  also  customary  after 
the  wedding  for  the  bride  to  exchange  the  virginal  wreath 
for  a  cap. 

Marriages  between  Frilings  and  Lazzi  were  illegal,  and 
if  they  took  place,  the  children  lost  caste,  and  were  declared 
bondmen.  A  freeborn  man  could  marry  his  slave  after 
having  given  her  her  freedom ;  but  a  freeborn  woman  who 
united  herself  to  a  slave,  being  unable,  on  account  of  being 
herself  always  under  guardianship,  to  give  him  his  freedom, 
became  a  slave ;  and  in  order  to  render  this  dishonorable  act 
impossible,  it  was  punished  with  death. 

Adultery  was  deemed  another  inexpiable  crime.  If  the 
husband  did  not  kill  the  guilty  wife  with  his  own  hand,  she 
was  turned,  naked  and  with  shorn  head,  out  of  the  house, 


53 

and  whipped  by  the  women  from  village  to  village,  until  she 
Bank  from  fatigue;  a  custom  highly  commended  by  Tacitus, 
and  which,  until  a  very  late  period,  was  in  force  among  the 
Saxons  (publicatse  enim  pudicitise  nulla  venia.  Nemo  enim 
illic  vitia  ridet;  nee  corrumpere  et  corrumpi  seculum  voca- 
tur,  Tac.).  The  ancient  Germans  did  not  think  the  indul- 
gence of  these  so-called  weaknesses  of  the  heart  so  urgent, 
as,  for  their  sake,  to  relax  public  morals,  and  to  cause  the 
disorder  of  a  whole  nation.  When  better  known  to  the  Ro- 
mans, and  invariably  told  that  their  laws  against  adultery 
were  much  too  severe,  and  a  sign  of  barbarism,  the  Bur- 
gundian  legislators  took  notice  of  this  reproach,  by  adding 
to  the  decree  in  which  this  crime  was  then,  as  formerly,  un- 
sparingly denounced  as  worthy  of  capital  punishment,  these 
remarkable  words,  "rectius  est  enim,  ut  paucorum  condem- 
natione  multitude  corrigatur,  quam  sub  specie  incongruse  in- 
civilitatis  intromittatur  occasio,  quse  licentiam  tribuat  delin- 
quendi";  and  it  was  even  said  of  the  Goths  and  Vandals, 
that  they  not  only  retained  their  own  purity,  but  also  re- 
formed the  corrupt  manners  of  the  Romans. 

The  women  were  indeed  held  in  such  esteem  that  the 
fine  or  Wergeld  for  any  injury  committed  against  them  was 
much  higher  than  one  committed  against  the  men;  among 
the  Alemanni  and  Bavarians  it  was  double  the  amount; 
among  the  Franks  and  Thuringians  treble,  and  still  higher 
if  the  injured  woman  were  pregnant;  among  the  Saxons, 
maidens  and  not  married  women  were  guarded  against  in- 
jury by  a  double  fine.  Every  woman,  possessed  of  sufficient 
strength,  was  free  to  carry  arms.  Women  were  also  allowed 
to  speak  in  council,  and  those  noted  for  capacity  and  skill 
often  headed  great  and  important  enterprises. 

Fidelity  unto  death  was  vowed  in  marriage,  and,  accord- 
ing to  Tacitus,  a  woman  never  took  a  second  husband ;  ' '  She 
can  have  but  one  husband,  as  she  can  have  but  one  body 
and  one  life" ;  "sic  unum  accipiunt  maritum  quomodo  unum 
corpus  unamque  vitam,  ne  ulla  cogitatio  ultra."  Wela  says 
of  the  Getse,  and  Procopius  of  the  Heruli,  that  the  women 


53 

killed  themselves  on  their  husbands'  bodies;  similar  cases, 
but  not  as  of  common  occurrence,  are  met  with  in  the 
legends  of  the  north,  and  it  is  a  historical  fact,  that  after 
bloody  battles,  the  German  women  killed  themselves  in 
great  numbers  on  the  bodies  of  their  slaughtered  husbands. 

XX.    Wolen  and  Walkyren 

THE  immense  strength  and  vigorous  nature  of  the  Ger- 
man people,  which  in  the  men  produced  an  intense  desire 
to  distinguish  themselves  by  bold  and  daring  exploits,  and, 
when  stimulated  to  excess,  engendered  the  Beserkerwuth,  a 
species  of  wolf -like  madness,  aroused  in  the  maidens  and 
women  that-  wonderful  sort  of  inspiration,  by  which  they 
became  involuntarily  intimate  with  the  mysteries  of  nature. 
This  inspiration,  known  in  our  times  as  animal  magnetism, 
was,  in  all  probability,  of  common  occurrence  in  those  an- 
cient times,  and  evinced  itself  in  a  much  higher  degree.  In 
the  Middle  Ages,  this  singular  faculty  was  deemed  witch- 
craft, and  was  condemned  as  a  diabolical  art,  on  account  of 
the  inability  to  explain  it  by  natural  means.  There  is  now 
no  doubt  of  its  being  caused  by  a  peculiarly  irritable  condi- 
tion of  the  nervous  system,  which  sometimes  appears  in  per- 
sons whose  powers  have  been  extremely  reduced  by  sickness, 
sometimes  in  those  possessed  of  a  superabundance  of  health 
and  strength.  Clairvoyance,  or  the  power  possessed  by  a 
person  in  a  mesmeric  state  of  examining  the  whole  of  the 
internal  organs  of  the  body,  and  of  involuntarily  discover- 
ing the  proper  remedy,  was,  at  that  period,  frequent  among 
women,  who  were  hence  reputed  to  be  possessed  of  the  gift 
of  healing.  This  faculty  also  extended  to  that  of  seeing 
what  passed  in  remote  places,  and  of  foretelling  approaching 
events,  and  altogether  bore  a  close  resemblance  to  modern 
mesmerism ;  hence  the  German  women  were  believed  to  pos- 
sess the  gift  of  prophecy,  and  were  regarded  as  sacred,  from 
a  belief  of  their  being  inspired  by  the  gods. 

The  temple  at  Delphi,  and,  in  fact,  all  the  Grecian  ora- 


54  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

cles,  originated  from  these  prophetesses,  who,  at  a  later 
period,  were  frequently  met  with  by  the  Romans  in  the  in- 
terior of  Germany;  the  most  celebrated  among  whom,  Vel- 
leda,  was  worshiped  as  a  divinity  by  the  whole  German 
nation,  whom  she  unceasingly  excited  against  the  Romans. 

These  prophetesses  were  called  "Wolen,  and  when  they 
foretold,  or  by  their  magic  arts  caused,  evil,  Hexen,  in  the 
north,  Trollen,  witches,  who  practiced  sorcery  by  means  of 
certain  songs  and  drugs.  These  songs  or  incantations  were 
in  existence  long  after  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  and 
were  known  by  the  name  of  Neitharte.  It  was  believed 
that  by  means  of  them  the  witch  had  the  power  of  raising 
storms,  and  of  causing  plagues.  Caracalla,  the  Roman  em- 
peror, is  said  to  have  been  deprived  of  his  senses  by  these 
German  incantations.  These  rhymes  were  so  well  known 
and  so  numerous,  that  in  later  times  the  repetition  of  them 
was  strictly  and  repeatedly  forbidden  by  the  Church.  Magic 
drugs  or  potions,  especially  love  potions,  were  equally  pro- 
hibited. 

The  Walkyren,  or  celestial  women  (from  Wai,  a  dead 
man,  and  kuren,  to  choose),  were  believed  to  be  heavenly 
maidens,  who  hovered  over  every  field  of  battle,  and  chose 
expiring  heroes  for  their  companions  in  the  eternal  joys  of 
"Walhalla;  a  belief  which  caused  German  warriors  to  look 
upon  death  as  a  nuptial  festival  in  the  skies.  Earthly  maid- 
ens were  also  regarded  as  Walkyren,  when  they  girded  on 
the  sword  and  took  part  in  the  battle. 

The  poetical  relation  between  the  pagan  warrior  and  his 
celestial  bride  changed,  in  course  of  time,  to  that  between 
the  Christian  knight  and  his  ladye-bright,  who  also  was  not 
always  an  earthly  dame,  but  the  Holy  Virgin  or  some  saint. 
Thus  the  romantic  love,  the  enthusiastic  service,  vowed  by 
knights  in  honor  of  a  celestial  being,  or  of  an  unknown, 
haughty,  or  eternally  ungrateful  dame,  the  Minnedienst  and 
gallantry  (in  its  noble  sense)  of  the  Middle  Ages,  all  origi- 
nated from  the  beautiful  fable  of  the  Walkyren. 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS        55 


XXI.    Ancient  German  Poesy 

•  IN  writing,  the  Germans  made  use  of  singularly  shaped 
letters,  called  Runic,  that  resembled  little  crossed  bits  of 
wood,  or  broken  twigs  thrown  one  upon  the  other;  which, 
in  fact,  they  were  originally  intended  to  represent.  It  was, 
at  first,  customary  to  augur  from  the  position  of  such  bits  of 
wood,  each  of  which  bore  a  different  meaning,  which  was 
retained  by  the  Runic  characters  when  used  in  writing,  with 
which  magic  was  always  associated. 

Paper  being  at  that  period  unknown,  the  Runic  charac- 
ters were  either  engraved  on  stone  or  cut  in  wood.  One  of 
the  Danish  kings  had  a  Runic  writing,  thirty  ells  in  length, 
cut  on  a  rock.  Even  in  the  present  times,  tombstones  bear- 
ing Runic  inscriptions  are  often  met  with.  These  characters 
were  commonly  cut  in  soft  wood,  particularly  beech-wood 
(Buche,  whence  is  derived  the  word  Buck,  a  book,  and 
Buchstaben — stab,  a  stick — letters),  an  art  generally  prac- 
ticed by  the  women,  on  account  of  their  superior  dexterity. 
Many  of  these  pieces  of  inscribed  wood  or  Runic  sticks  have 
been  preserved.  The  laws  were  also  inscribed  upon  wood  in 
these  characters,  and,  on  account  of  their  lengthy  contents, 
sometimes  covered  whole  beams  (Balkeri) ;  and,  at  the  pres- 
ent day,  the  books  containing  the  laws  are,  in  the  north, 
called  Balken. 

Poetry  was  highly  esteemed  by  the  Germans,  who,  by  re- 
citing the  noble  deeds  of  their  ancestors,  kept  up  the  national 
love  of  war  and  adventure.  The  bards,  inspired  by  martial 
enthusiasm,  transformed  the  fabled  enterprises  of  the  gods 
into  legends  recounting  heroic  exploits,  in  which  the  ele- 
ments, the  stars,  and  all  the  powers  of  nature  bore  a  part. 
Descriptions  of  great  battles,  prophecies  of  pending  destruc- 
tion, the  triumph  of  the  victor,  or  the  lament  of  the  con- 
quered, form  the  subject  of  almost  all  the  songs  that  have 
descended  to  us  from  days  of  eld. 

The  harmony  of  two  consonants,  or  alliteration;  or  of 


56 

two  vowels,  or  assonance;  or  that  of  the  last  syllable  in  a 
verse,  or  rhythm ;  were  peculiar  to  German  poetry.  All  the 
ancient  songs  are  also  as  remarkable  for  their  proud  and 
daring  spirit  as  for  their  sublime  and  graphic  brevity,  which 
may  be  particularly  observed  throughout  the  northern  Ed  da. 
Metaphor  was  so  general,  that  a  ship  was  commonly  desig- 
nated by  a  snake  or  a  bird,  a  sword  was  termed  fire,  and 
vice  versa.  Diodorus  mentions  the  bold  figures  and  hyper- 
boles hi  use  among  the  northern  Catti,  as  he  designates  the 
Scandinavians.  Tacitus  also  speaks  of  the  poetical  genius 
of  the  Germans.  The  northern  Saga  describe  the  extraordi- 
nary influence  exercised  by  song  over  the  sympathies  of  the 
ancient  warriors.  The  Danes  formerly  thought  the  com- 
poser of  the  best  poem  alone  worthy  of  the  throne,  and  the 
whole  nation  assembled,  in  order  to  judge  of  its  merits.  The 
Icelanders  once  composed  a  song  in  ridicule  of  the  Danes, 
who  felt  the  insult  so  deeply  that  a  naval  expedition  was  the 
result.  Poetry  was  so  all-powerful  in  exciting  or  in  allaying 
the  passions  that  a  cruel  Swedish  king  is  said  to  have  been 
suddenly  transformed,  by  a  single  song,  from  a  depraved 
and  licentious  despot  into  a  just  and  valiant  ruler.  Love 
and  hatred,  grief  and  joy,  were  alternately  swayed  by  the 
power  of  song.  A  celebrated  Troll  arriving  at  the  court  of 
a  Swedish  king  sang  before  him  and  his  assembled  nobles. 
The  first  song  excited  such  excessive  delight  that  they 
danced  and  shouted  for  joy;  when  he  sang  the  second 
they  began  to  sorrow  and  weep;  but  scarcely  had  he  sang 
the  third  than,  frantic  with  rage,  they  drew  their  swords 
and  slew  one  another. 

Although  the  ancient  melodies  of  Germany  and  Sweden 
were  essentially  of  a  martial  character,  they  possessed  great 
force  and  variety  of  sentiment,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  Edda, 
in  which  violent  anger,  heartrending  grief,  and  jocose  de- 
light, follow  in  rapid  succession. 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS        5? 


XXII.    Public  Worship 

THE  gods  were  generally  worshiped  in  sacred  groves 
and  forests,  or  on  heaths,  whence,  zum  Walde  fahren,  to 
go  to  the  wood,  wallfahren,  to  go  on  a  pilgrimage,  and  the 
name  of  "heathen,"  applied  to  unbelievers  in  Christianity. 
Tacitus  relates  that,  at  certain  periods,  all  the  tribes  of  the 
Senmones  made  a  pilgrimage  to  a  sacred  grove,  where  hu- 
man sacrifices  were  offered,  and  that  whoever  entered  the 
groves  wore  chains  in  sign  of  submission  to  the  deity. 

Public  worship  was  also  solemnized  beneath  the  shade  of 
gigantic  and  solitary  trees,  on  whose  branches  trophies  and 
the  heads  of  sacrificed  horses  were  hung.  The  Upstales- 
boom,  the  point  of  reunion  for  the  whole  of  Friesland;  an 
aged  nut  tree  at  Benevento,  held  sacred  by  the  Longobards ; 
the  great  oak  at  Geismar,  in  Hesse,  which  Saint  Bonifacio 
cut  down ;  and  the  pear  tree  on  the  Malserheath ;  were  once 
sacred  to  the  gods.  The  names  of  Altaich  (old  oak),  Eich- 
stadt  (oak  city),  Dreieich  (three  oaks),  Sieben  eichen  (seven 
oaks),  etc.,  have  a  similar  origin;  and,  even  at  the  present 
day,  there  is  scarcely  a  village  throughout  Germany  without 
its  large  tree,  around  which  it  was  the  custom,  not  long  ago, 
for  the  young  people  to  dance.  The  trees  of  liberty  intro- 
duced during  the  French  Revolution  were  merely  fantastical 
repetitions  of  the  long-forgotten  customs  of  antiquity. 

The  gods  were  also  worshiped  on  holy  mountains,  and, 
when  Christianity  was  introduced,  churches  were  generally 
built  on  heights.  Even  in  our  days,  the  mass  is  annually 
read,  at  the  top  of  the  Alps,  to  the  assembled  Senn  shep- 
herds. The  procession  of  witches  on  the  Blocksberg,  the 
highest  summit  of  the  Harz  Mountains,  is  probably  a  super- 
stition derived  from  the  ancient  worship  formerly  offered  on 
that  spot  to  the  god  of  spring.  Not  very  long  ago,  the 
Johannisfeuer,  or  fires  of  St.  John,  were  still  commonly 
lighted  on  the  tops  of  hills.  Ancient  altars  have  been  found 
on  the  Odilienberg  in  Alsace.  There  are  several  Donners- 


58  THE   HISTORY   OF    GERMANY 

berge,  mountains  so  called  from  the  god  of  thunder.  One 
of  the  highest  points  of  the  Priesengebirge,  famous  in  story, 
the  Reiftrager  or  Ringbearer,  is  quite  bare,  and  surrounded 
with  a  regular  circle  of  enormous  stones.  The  Groteberg  at 
Detmold  is  encircled  with  two  great  stone  rings,  and  is  the 
same  as  the  ancient  Teutoburg  in  the  wood,  the  burial  place 
of  the  legions  of  Varus. 

Lakes,  rivers,  and  springs  were  also  held  sacred.  Tacitus 
mentions  a  grove  with  a  sacred  lake  in  an  island  to  the  north 
of  Germany,  apparently  Zeeland.  The  image  of  the  goddess 
Hertha,  in  a  chariot  drawn  by  cows,  was  brought  in  solemn 
procession  to  this  lake,  and  there  washed  by  slaves,  who, 
immediately  after  the  ceremony,  were  drowned.  There  were 
also  places  of  sacrifice  on  the  Bodensee,  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
falls  of  the  Rhine,  and  near  to  Bregenz.  Petrarch,  the  cele- 
brated Italian  poet,  relates,  that  so  late  as  the  fourteenth 
century,  the  female  inhabitants  of  Cologne  bathed  in  the 
Rhine  on  St.  John's  day,  in  order  to  wash  away  their  sins; 
and  that  the  superstitious  custom  of  drawing  water  at  mid- 
night from  holy  wells  was  still  practiced.  The  custom  of 
the  Swiss,  at  a  yet  later  period,  of  dipping  their  colors  before 
battle  into  running  water,  and  of  unf urling  them  before  they 
were  dry,  was  without  doubt  an  ancient  heathen  ceremony. 

The  erection  of  temples  is  of  later  date;  they  were  only 
known  in  the  northern  countries ;  as,  for  instance,  the  great 
temples  at  Upsala  in  Sweden,  and  at  Lethra  in  Denmark. 
The  worship  of  images  also  dates  later,  and  was  only  partial, 
although  it  extended  to  Upper  Germany,  as  has  been  already 
seen  in  respect  to  the  Bodensee. 

There  were  three  high  festivals  in  the  year,  which  were 
held  peculiarly  sacred.  On  these  occasions  the  whole  nation 
assembled  in  order  to  offer  sacrifice.  They  were  all  called 
Sunarblut,  Sonnenopfer,  sacrifice  to  the  sun,  or  Suhnopfer, 
sacrifice  of  atonement,  whence  came  the  word  Sinist,  the 
title  of  the  Burgundian  high  priest.  But  by  far  the  holiest 
time  was  that  answering  to  our  Christmas,  and  the  twelve 
darkest  nights  of  the  whole  year,  those  during  the  winter 


solstice,  after  which  the  sun  again  approaches  our  hemi- 
sphere: during  this  period,  the  gods  and  spirits  were  sup- 
posed to  descend  upon  the  earth,  while  "Wodan  himself 
(Hermes,  who,  according  to  the  Greeks,  was  the  conductor 
of  the  souls  of  the  dead),  or  in  his  place  the  chief  goddess, 
Frau  Hexe  or  Holle,  led  the  midnight  procession  of  spirits 
hovering  in  the  air.  Hence  originated  the  legend  of  the 
wild  huntsman.  The  great  festival,  held  at  this  time 
throughout  the  northern  countries,  was  called  the  Yule 
feast,  traces  of  which  are  still  to  be  met  with  in  Scotland. 
The  second  festival  was  celebrated  in  the  spring;  in  the 
north,  during  Easter;  in  the  south,  at  Whitsuntide  or  on 
St.  John's  day.  The  Franks  held  theirs  at  different  times, 
having  the  great  annual  assembly,  first  in  March,  and  at  a 
later  period  in  May.  Great  fires  were  lit  (Easter  fire  in  the 
north;  St.  John's  fire  in  the  south),  through  which  the  cattle 
were  driven  by  way  of  purification,  and  in  order  to  guard 
them  against  the  powers  of  evil.  A  festival  was  instituted 
in  honor  of  the  first  violet,  around  which  they  danced ;  there 
were  also  a  feast  of  flowers,  the  president  of  which  was,  in 
Sweden,  called  the  Flower-king;  in  Denmark,  the  May- king, 
etc.  The  image  of  Death  or  Winter  was  borne  in  solemn 
procession  to  the  river.  Many  of  these  customs  of  olden 
times  exist  at  the  present  day. 

The  third  festival  was  held  in  the  autumn,  at  the  time  of 
our  Kirchweih,  or  church  consecration,  and  appears  to  have 
been  particularly  dedicated  to  Thor,  by  whose  horn  it  is  des- 
ignated on  Runic  stones.  On  this  day  wheaten  cakes,  in  the 
shape  of  horns,  were  baked  in  honor  of  the  god,  which  now, 
in  some  parts  of  northern  Germany,  are  baked  on  the  same 
day,  in  honor  of  St.  Martin.  St.  Martin's  goose  also  apper- 
tains to  these  ancient  superstitions. 

The  Swedes  every  nine  years  celebrated  a  peculiarly  sol- 
emn feast,  which  lasted  nine  days,  during  which  99  men,  99 
dogs,  99  cocks,  and  99  hawks  were  sacrificed.  A  similar  sac- 
rifice was  customary  in  Denmark,  which,  A.D.  926,  was  abol- 
ished by  the  Emperor  Henry  the  First. 


60  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

That  these  festivals  were  bloody,  is  at  once  proved  by  the 
name  Sonnenblut,  and  by  the  appellation  of  the  priests,  who 
throughout  the  north  were  called  Blutmanner,  men  of  blood. 
Warriors  were  held  in  high  estimation  who  were  also  good 
Blutmanner,  and  could  sacrifice  beasts,  a  duty  incumbent  on 
every  head  of  a  family  when  no  priest  happened  to  be  pres- 
ent. The  Blutmanner,  whose  office  it  was  to  assist  the  king 
while  offering  sacrifices,  were  always  twelve  freeborn  men, 
chosen  from  the  people.  They  killed  the  beast,  and  sprinkled 
the  sacred  tree,  the  place  of  sacrifice,  and  all  the  bystanders 
with  the  blood ;  the  flesh  was  then  cooked  and  served  at  the 
banquet,  the  head  of  the  animal  being  hung  upon  the  tree.  As 
they  generally  sacrificed  and  ate  horses,  the  eating  of  horse- 
flesh became  a  mark  of  distinction  between  the  heathen  and 
the  Christian.  A  Christian  king  was  forced  by  the  pagan 
Swedes  to  eat  horseflesh  in  sign  of  apostasy,  and,  at  a  later 
period,  every  one  who  ate  horseflesh  was  regarded  as  a 
heathen,  and  was  put  to  death. 

It  is  equally  certain  that  human  sacrifices,  though  of  rare 
occurrence,  were  nevertheless  offered.  The  great  Swedish 
and  Danish  sacrifices  have  already  been  mentioned.  Tacitus 
also  speaks  of  human  sacrifices.  The  Cimbri  sacrificed  their 
Roman  prisoners;  and  in  times  of  dearth  the  Swedes  sacri- 
ficed their  king ;  but  these  were  extraordinary  cases. 

Besides  the  great  feasts  and  sacrifices,  there  were  occa- 
sionally a  number  of  other  religious  observances.  During  a 
storm  the  Swedes  shot  arrows  into  the  air,  in  order  to  assist 
the  god  of  thunder  in  his  combats  with  the  giants.  During 
an  eclipse  of  the  sun  the  people  crowded  together  and 
shouted,  in  order  to  scare  the  wolf  attempting  to  eat  the 
sun,  which  was  supposed  to  be  symbolical  of  the  destruction 
of  the  world,  when  Odin  would  be  devoured  by  the  wolf 
Fenrir.  In  harvest  time,  a  bunch  of  ears,  tied  up  with  rib- 
bons, was  left  standing  in  the  field  for  Odin's  horse.  On  all 
important  occasions  divine  counsel  was  sought  by  the  exam- 
ination of  favorable  or  unfavorable  omens.  Jacob  Grimm 
has,  in  his  German  Mythology,  collected  a  number  of  these 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS        61 

omens  which  were  superstitiously  observed  long  after  the 
introduction  of  Christianity. 

XXIII.    Pagan  Superstitions 

THE  learned  Grimm  has,  with  his  usual  laborious  re- 
search, proved  that  the  religion  of  southern  Germany  was, 
in  the  time  of  Tacitus,  essentially  the  same  as  that  of  Scan- 
dinavia shortly  before  the  time  of  Snorri,  and  that  all  the 
German  nations,  before  their  conversion  to  Christianity, 
called  their  superior  gods  by  the  same  names,  and  had  the 
same  idea  of  nature,  and  consequently  the  same  supersti- 
tions, fables,  and  legends. 

The  religion  of  the  north,  however,  appears  to  have  been, 
at  a  later  period,  of  a  higher  and  more  polished  order,  and 
certain  religious  differences  seem  to  have  attached  them- 
selves to  various  localities  and  tribes.  The  German  relig- 
ion, like  all  those  of  ancient  times,  gradually  fell  from  the 
simple  adoration  of  one  invisible  Deity  to  the  worship  of  the 
sun,  moon,  stars,  elements,  and  other  powers  of  nature, 
which,  when  the  human  race  became  more  polished,  were 
ingeniously  and  poetically  humanized;  a  progression  of  the 
human  imagination  common  to  most  nations,  as  may  be 
proved  by  closely  investigating  the  religions  of  Greece, 
Rome,  and  Asia. 

The  worship  of  the  stars  and  of  the  elements  was  com- 
mon to  the  Swabian  nations,  while  that  of  the  heroes,  in 
which  gods  were  represented  under  the  form  of  men,  was 
already  practiced  by  the  Frankish,  Saxon,  and  particularly 
by  the  Scandinavian  tribes.  When  Christianity,  advancing 
step  by  step,  uprooted  pagan  superstition,  the  worship  of  the 
heroes  took  refuge  with  the  fugitive  Norwegians  in  Iceland, 
where  were  preserved  the  sacred  books  of  the  Edda,  in  which 
the  purer  natural  religion,  and  even  the  first  doctrine  of  the 
existence  of  one  invisible  God,  are  again  recognizable,  among 
the  ingenious  fables  of  the  heroes.  According  to  these  books, 
the  most  ancient  god  is  Allfadur  (Allfater,  Father  of  all), 


02  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

the  indivisible  and  eternal  Creator  and  Preserver,  the  Father 
of  the  universe  and  of  the  inferior  gods,  whom  he  will  sur- 
vive, and  who  will  one  day  destroy  both  them  and  the  pres- 
ent world,  and  create  a  new  one  in  its  stead.  The  three 
Nornen,  or  goddesses  of  fate,  the  past,  the  present,  and  the 
future  (beneath  whose  rule  all  temporal  concerns  stand  fixed, 
and  come  but  to  pass  away),  are  regarded  as  continually  pro- 
ceeding from  him;  while  the  whole  of  nature's  creations, 
both  gods  and  men,  are  regarded  as  merely  temporary  efflu- 
ences from  the  one  great  and  supreme  being. 

Allfater  reigned  alone  over  boundless  void,  which,  by  the 
power  of  his  glance,  split  into  two  halves;  one,  Muspelheim, 
the  world  of  light ;  the  other,  Nilfheim,  or  the  abode  of  dark- 
ness. The  spirit  of  Light  was  Surtur;  the  spirit  of  Night, 
Hela.  Then  Allfater  commanded  them  to  mingle,  in  order 
to  produce  a  third  and  middle  world,  and  a  fiery  shower  of 
sparks  fell  from  Muspelheim  into  the  damp,  cold  Nilfheim, 
and  fire  and  water  battled  together,  fizzing  and  boiling,  until 
from  this  fearful  ferment  two  monsters  sprang ;  first,  from 
the  dark  and  evil  genius  of  Night  came  the  giant  Ymer,  the 
symbol  of  brute  force ;  then,  from  the  light  and  good  spirit 
of  fire,  the  divine  cow,  Audhumla,  the  symbol  of  nourishing 
and  preserving  power.  Ymer  looked  upon  himself  as  the 
monarch  of  the  world,  and  from  his  right  and  left  foot  is- 
sued a  six-headed  son,  the  father  of  the  Hrymthursen,  or 
wicked  ice-giants,  who  inherited  the  cold  nature  of  their 
progenitor,  Night.  The  cow  licked  the  good  god,  Buri,  out 
of  a  rock  of  salt,  from  whose  son,  Bor,  descended  the  three 
brothers,  Odin,  Wile,  and  We.  These  good  gods  slew  the 
wicked  Ymer,  and,  tearing  his  body  into  pieces,  created 
the  earth  out  of  it.  The  giant's  skull  formed  the  vault  of 
heaven;  his  brains,  the  clouds;  his  hair,  the  forests;  his 
bones,  the  mountains;  and  his  blood,  the  sea.  But  the  gods 
made  the  first  man  and  woman  out  of  two  trees,  the  oak  and 
the  alder.  Henceforth  men  dwelt  in  the  world,  and  good 
gods  ruled  over  it ;  but  the  bad  giants  of  the  race  of  Ymer 
still  existed,  and  the  gods,  foolishly  intermingling  with  them, 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS        63 

allowed  Loki,  one  of  the  sons  of  the  giants,  to  take  his  seat 
among  them  as  the  god  of  evil,  who  was  one  day  destined  to 
allure  them  to  destruction.  Thus  the  principle  of  evil  was 
not  entirely  subdued  by  the  death  of  Ymer,  but  still  contin- 
ued to  struggle  throughout  all  nature  against  the  spirit  of 
good. 

XXIV.    The  Ancient  Idea  of  Nature 

ALTHOUGH  the  whole  of  nature  was  thus  supposed  to 
have  been  created  out  of  the  body  of  the  giant  Ymer,  it  was 
regarded  as  originally  proceeding  from  the  primary  worlds 
of  light  and  darkness,  still  existing  beyond  its  limits.  Mus- 
pelheim,  the  empire  of  Surtur,  hung  far  above  the  heavens, 
and  the  sun,  moon  and  stars  were  merely  streams  of  light 
flowing  downward  from  it.  Far  beneath  the  earth  lay  an- 
cient Nilfheim,  the  kingdom  of  Hela,  or  hell,  whose  abode 
was  Helheim ;  whose  palace  was  Misery ;  whose  table,  Hun- 
ger; whose  servant,  Delay;  whose  threshold,  Ruin;  whose 
bed,  Sorrow;  and  whose  color  was  Decay.  Nine  long  nights 
must  the  dead  ride  through  dark  valleys,  when  they  reached 
Gioll,  the  river  of  hell,  and  rode  over  the  bridge  into  Nilf- 
heim, where  all  went  who,  instead  of  falling  by  the  sword, 
died  like  cowards  on  their  beds ;  all  those  also  who  had  been 
thieves,  or  liars,  or  had  acted  dishonorably ;  but  the  deepest 
pit  in  Nilfheim  was  Huergelmir,  completely  built  of  snakes' 
heads,  unceasingly  spitting  poison  on  the  damned. 

Between  the  middle  world  and  Muspelheim  lay  another, 
inhabited  by  the  good  spirits  of  nature  (Liosalfarheim,  Licht- 
alfheim),  born  of  the  elves  of  light;  the  wise  and  tender 
genii  of  the  elements,  Fylgien,  or  guardian  spirits;  and  the 
Walkyren,  who  were  also  the  clouds,  the  messengers  of 
Odin.  Hence  came  the  countless  legends  of  elves  and  fair- 
ies, beneficent  toward  mankind,  especially  toward  the  poor, 
and  children ;  hence  also  the  stories  of  wood  and  water  Nixen 
or  nymphs ;  of  the  fantastical  loves  of  sylphs  and  Undinen, 
and  of  river  and  tree  elves. 

The  stars  were  sparks  out  of  Muspelheim,  directed  by 


64  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

Odin :  thus  the  sun  was  called  Odin's  eye ;  the  constellation 
of  the  Great  Bear,  Odin's  chariot;  and  Jacob's  Staff,  the 
distaff  of  the  goddess  Freya.  Odin  also  created  day  and 
night,  and  gave  to  the  former,  the  horse  Skinfari,  the 
golden-maned ;  and  to  the  latter,  the  horse  Hrinfari,  the 
mane  of  dew. 

Between  the  middle  world  and  Nilfheim  lay  also  another 
world,  Schwartalfaheim,  belonging  to  the  black  elves,  who 
dwelt  in  the  interior  of  the  earth,  particularly  in  moun- 
tains. These  are  the  Kobolds,  who  watch  over  subterranean 
treasures  and  metals,  and  generally  attempt  to  hurt  and  to 
corrupt  men.  The  numerous  legends  of  the  Venusberg, 
Kyffhauserberg,  Untersberg,  Zobtenberg,  Horselberg,  etc., 
prove  that  the  mountains  were  supposed  to  be  hollow,  and  to 
contain  treasures  or  seductive  spirits ;  and  at  a  later  period, 
to  be  haunted  by  the  souls  of  the  dead.  The  legend  of  the 
Tannhauser,  who  entered  the  Venusberg,  and  there  dwelt  in 
joy  and  delight  with  the  beauteous  and  mysterious  moun- 
tain queen,  is  very  old,  and  equally  so  are  the  stories  of  the 
mountain  king,  Riibezahl,  who,  under  the  form  of  a  man, 
tempted  maidens  into  the  interior  of  the  Priesengebirge. 
The  water  spirits  were  also  supposed  to  be  generally  wicked, 
though  sometimes  only  sportive.  The  word  necken,  to 
tease,  came  from  Neck,  Nickel,  Nixe,  the  appellation  of  the 
water  spirits;  whence  the  River  Neckar  also  derived  its 
name. 

Plants  and  animals  were  also  connected  in  various  de- 
grees with  the  bright  and  black  elves,  by  whom  they  were 
animated,  and  caused  good  or  evil.  The  middle  world,  or 
earth,  placed  between  these  double  worlds  of  light  and  dark- 
ness, was  called  Mannheim,  the  home  of  man,  and  was  di- 
vided into  an  upper  and  a  lower  part;  the  former  of  which 
was  Asgard,  the  heaven  of  the  gods,  with  the  beautiful 
"Walhalla,  whose  windows  overlooked  the  paradise  destined 
for  pious  women  and  children ;  and  the  latter  was  the  earth. 
The  rainbow,  the  sign  of  union,  was  supposed  to  form  a 
bridge  called  Bifrost,  joining  earth  to  heaven,  by  means  of 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS        65 

which  the  gods  descended  to  the  earth  and  the  souls  of  men 
mounted  to  Walhalla.  The  earth  was  believed  to  be  round, 
and  to  be  surrounded  by  the  ocean  (Ymer's  blood)  or  by  the 
great  Mitgard  snake,  Jormungardur ;  in  the  ocean  dwelt 
the  god  CEgir  and  innumerable  sea  nymphs.  As  animals, 
plants,  and  metals  were  inhabited  by  elves  and  dwarfs,  deli- 
cate and  diminutive  but  powerful  and  cunning  spirits,  the 
mountains,  seas,  and  ruder  features  of  nature  were  naturally 
the  abode  of  the  giant  race  of  Ymer.  The  extreme  north 
was  full  of  Hrymthursen  or  ice  giants.  Niord,  the  god  of 
the  cold  air,  is  especially  the  god  of  the  north;  Uller,  the 
god  of  winter;  Kari,  the  god  of  the  wind,  and  his  sons, 
frost,  ice,  and  snow.  The  manner  in  which  the  giants  were 
identified  with  natural  phenomena  is  visible  in  the  following 
poetical  Saga:  When  Gerdha,  the  daughter  of  the  giants, 
closed  her  house  door,  heaven  and  earth  were  illumined  by 
the  reflection  of  her  beautiful  white  arms;  signifying  the 
Northern  Lights.  As  Hvenilda,  the  daughter  of  the  giants, 
carrying  earth  in  her  apron,  was  wading  through  the  ocean, 
the  apron  tore,  and  the  earth,  falling  into  the  water,  formed 
the  island  of  Hven. 

XXV.    The  Gods 

THE  polytheism  of  the  Germans  arose  from  the  inter- 
mixture of  this  original  idea  of  the  cause  of  natural  phenom- 
ena, with  those  borrowed  from  history  and  domestic  life,  or 
produced  by  their  natural  tendencies  and  lively  imagina- 
tions. AUfater,  primarily  the  one  invisible  God,  afterward 
became  the  visible  source  of  light,  the  sun,  and  finally,  a 
demigod,  Odin.  Thus,  in  the  golden  temple  at  Upsala,  the 
supreme  deity  of  ancient  Germany,  who,  from  the  Gulf  of 
Bothnia  to  the  Bodensee,  was  worshiped  as  the  Father  of 
till,  the  eternal  God,  in  a  word,  as  God,  was  first  imaged  as 
a  beaming  sun,  and  was  afterward  represented  standing 
before  this  sun  under  the  form  of  a  human  hero,  Odin-Sigge. 
The  wolf  saga  in  the  Edda  is  also  twofold.  A  wolf  swal- 


06  THE    HISTORY   OF    GERMANY 

lows  the  sun,  another  swallows  the  hero,  Odin,  but  both  are 
one;  hence  the  name  of  the  year  (as  in  the  Greek,  Awd/Jac), 
Wolfgang,  i.e.,  the  sun  passing  before  the  wolf.  The  Saga 
relates  much  of  Odin  that  merely  identifies  him  with  man, 
and  renders  him  ridiculous,  so  that  the  ancient  pure  belief  in 
Wodan,  Guodan,  God,  was  almost  forgotten,  like  the  idea 
of  the  supreme  divinity  among  the  Romans,  effaced  by  the 
image  of  the  sensual  and  capricious  Jupiter. 

The  idea  of  Allf  ater  produced  those  of  light  and  fire ;  of 
Surtur,  the  sun,  the  Persian  Ormuzd,  who  was  perhaps  iden- 
tical with  Irmin ;  of  Mannus,  the  father  of  all  mankind ;  of 
Thaut,  Thuisko,  peculiarly  the  god  of  the  Germans ;  and  of 
Odin,  the  demigod,  who,  in  the  historical  records,  is  spoken 
of  as  a  man,  the  founder  of  kingly  races,  and  from  whom 
the  Germans  derived  their  customs,  warlike  habits,  and 
arts;  hence  he  was  the  god  of  victory  (Sigge),  and  especially 
that  of  war  and  weapons ;  the  god  of  wisdom ;  the  inventor 
of  letters,  sciences,  and  arts.  The  invention  of  poetry  is  also 
ascribed  to  his  having,  in  the  form  of  an  eagle,  devoured  the 
honey  containing  the  poetical  inspiration;  but  when  flying 
back  with  it  to  Asgard,  he  was  so  closely  pursued  that  he 
let  a  part  of  it  drop  from  behind  on  the  summit  of  the  Asen- 
berg,  the  tasting  of  which  produced  the  bad  poets,  while  the 
good  ones  were  fed  upon  the  honey  that  issued  from  his  beak 
on  the  Himmelsberg.  Drollery  and  sublimity  thus  go  hand 
in  hand  throughout  the  Saga  of  Odin. 

Odin's  heavenly  palace  was  the  Walhalla,  an  enormous 
hall  ornamented  with  golden  escutcheons  and  lances,  to 
which  540  doors  led,  each  so  wide  that  800  heroes  could  march 
through  them  abreast.  Here  came  all  the  souls  of  warriors, 
Einheriar  (einig,  ein  Heer  bildende  Waffenbriider,  singly 
composing  an  army  of  companions  in  arms),  who  daily  rode 
with  the  gods  on  the  great  plains  of  Ida,  and  battled  with 
one  another,  in  order  to  continue,  after  death,  the  heroic 
deeds  they  joyed  in  during  life,  and  every  evening  returned 
to  Walhalla,  where,  seated  in  a  circle,  they  drank  rich  mead 
from  golden  goblets,  presented  to  them  by  the  beauteous 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS       67 

Walkyren,  and  fed  upon  the  flesh  of  the  bear,  Sahrimnir, 
which  always  remained  whole,  whatever  number  of  steaks 
were  cut  from  him,  and  upon  the  apples  of  Iduna,  which 
preserved  them  in  eternal  youth,  while  the  scalds  sang  in 
praise  of  the  gods,  of  the  charms  of  the  Walkyren,  and  of 
past  glory ;  Odin  presiding  over  the  feast,  and  rejoicing  over 
his  countless  armies  of  heroes.  The  windows  of  Walhalla 
overlooked  all  the  other  heavens,  which  lay  round  about  like 
beautiful  castles,  where  the  gods  dwelt  singly  with  their 
wives,  and  where  the  pious  wives  and  children  of  mortals, 
who  could  not  enter  Walhalla,  but  might  dwell  in  its  vicin- 
ity, were  transferred.  Odin  belonged  to  the  world  of  light, 
his  wife  Frigga  to  that  of  darkness,  but  she  was  raised  by 
her  union  with  him  to  that  of  light.  She  was  mother  Earth, 
and  stands  in  the  same  relation  to  the  female  black  elves  and 
Hela,  as  the  goddesses  of  the  earth,  of  Greece,  Rome,  and 
Egypt,  did  to  the  infernal  powers ;  and,  in  the  superstitions 
of  Christian  times,  she  was  styled  Frau  Holle  (hell)  or  Frau 
Bertha,  who,  in  her  amiable  character,  was  the  prophetess 
of  housewives  and  of  households,  and,  in  her  fearful  one, 
the  leader  of  the  night  chase.  In  short,  she  personated  the 
darkness  of  earth,  and  Odin  the  brightness  of  heaven;  and 
as  Odin  was  always  imagined  to  be  riding  on  the  eight- 
legged  horse,  Sleipnir,  Frigga  is  represented  as  seated  in  a 
chariot  drawn  by  cows;  horses  being  sacred  to  him,  and 
cows  to  her.  The  image,  washed  in  the  lake,  mentioned  by 
Tacitus,  was  hers.  She  was  also  probably  identical  with 
Isis,  of  whom  that  writer  says  that  she  was  carried  about 
in  a  ship.  In  1133  a  ship  was  drawn  overland,  in  solemn 
procession,  with  dancing  and  music,  from  Aix-la- Chapel le  to 
Maestricht,  evidently  a  pagan  custom,  in  which  the  proces- 
sion accompanying  the  chariot  or  ship  was  probably  intended 
to  represent  the  early  migrations  of  the  Germans. 

Freyr  and  Freya  were  connected  in  the  same  manner  as 
Odin  and  Frigga.  Freyr  was  the  son  of  Odin,  in  a  stricter 
sense,  the  sun;  and  consequently  the  guardian  of  all  the 
white  elves.  Freya  was  the  daughter  of  Niord,  and  there- 


68  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

fore  belonged  to  the  spirits  of  damp  and  darkness;  she  was 
the  moon,  and  the  goddess  of  love ;  and  as  Freyr,  the  sun, 
rode  on  a  golden  bear,  she  rode  on  a  silver  one,  having  in 
her  train,  Siofna,  the  first  feelings  of  love,  Lofna,  happy 
love,  Wara,  true  love,  Snotra,  shame,  and  Gefion,  inno- 
cence ;  and,  although  in  this  manner  belonging  to  light,  she 
appears,  from  the  above-mentioned  Saga  of  the  Venusberg 
concerning  love  charms  and  philters,  to  be  in  close  connec- 
tion with  the  black  elves,  over  whom  she  probably  reigned, 
as  Freyr  did  over  the  white  ones. 

Thor  or  Dunar,  the  god  of  thunder,  who  was  supposed  to 
be  drawn  by  black  goats  through  the  air,  bearing  in  his 
hand  Miolner,  the  hammer  of  destruction,  and  the  great 
drinking  horn  with  which  he  once  nearly  drained  the  ocean, 
thus  causing  the  ebb  and  flow,  bears  much  similarity  to 
Odin,  and  is  apparently  a  Gaelic  divinity  of  more  ancient 
date,  who  continued  to  be  worshiped  by  the  Galli  under 
the  name  of  Taranes,  and  by  the  Finns  and  Lapps  under 
that  of  Tiermes,  the  supreme  god.  Tyr,  the  god  of  war,  is 
also  identical  with  him,  as  well  as  Widar,  the  god  of  loco- 
motion, who  walked  through  and  crushed  everything  with 
his  iron  shoes. 

The  rest  of  the  Asen  are  bright  gods  of  light ;  "Wali,  the 
spring;  Balldr,  beauty;  Braga,  the  god  of  poetry;  Saga,  the 
goddess  of  history;  Iduna,  immortality;  Heimdall,  the  god 
of  the  three  classes,  the  nobles,  the  freeborn,  and  the  slaves; 
and  Forsete,  the  god  of  peace  and  justice.  The  twelve  Asen, 
Thor,  Balldr,  Niord,  Freyr,  Tyr,  Braga,  Heimdall,  Widar, 
Wali,  Uller,  Forsete,  and  Loki,  were  chosen  from  among  all 
these  various  deities,  and,  assembled  around  Odin,  assisted 
in  governing  the  world;  they  also  signify  the  twelve  mouths 
of  the  year,  and  again  appear  in  the  seven  days  of  the  week : 
Wednesday,  Odin's  day;  Thursday  Thor's  day;  Friday, 
Freya's  day. 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS        69 


XXVI.    Historical  Ideas 

As  the  outward  frame  of  the  earth  was  supposed  to  have 
been  created  out  of  the  body  of  the  giant  Ymer,  the  ash  tree, 
Ygdrasill,  was  supposed  to  represent  its  external  growth  and 
internal  life.  This  tree  reached  from  the  bottom  of  Nilfheim 
far  beyond  all  the  heavens;  it  had  three  roots,  by  each  of 
which  there  was  a  source;  Urdarborn,  the  source  of  time; 
Mimer's  well,  the  source  of  wisdom;  and  Huergelmir,  the 
source  of  poison.  Nidhoggur,  the  dragon,  the  father  of  all 
the  snakes  in  Huergelmir,  unceasingly  gnawed  the  roots. 
The  three  Nornen  or  fates,  the  past,  the  present,  and  the 
future,  sat  around  the  source  of  time.  Far  above,  at  the 
top  of  the  tree,  perched  an  eagle,  the  symbol  of  perfection, 
perhaps  as  the  fire  eagle,  the  self-animating  phoenix,  while  a 
squirrel  ran  busily  up  and  down,  making  mischief  between 
the  dragon  below  and  the  eagle  above.  As  soon  as  the 
dragon  gnawed  through  the  roots,  the  noble  tree  was  to  fall, 
and  time  and  all  earthly  things  were  to  cease.  This  beauti- 
ful world  was  not  to  endure  forever;  the  gods,  like  men, 
mere  creatures  of  Allfater,  were  subject  to  evil  and  destruc- 
tion. All  that  was  earthly  would  pass  away,  but  Allfater 
would  renovate  earth  and  heaven.  The  ancient  legends  of 
the  gods  conclude  with  this  doctrine,  and  this  conclusion  of 
the  Ed  da  is  in  extraordinary  agreement  with  that  of  the  old 
songs  of  the  Nibelungen;  in  the  former,  the  gods  are  de- 
stroyed ;  in  the  latter,  men ;  and  both,  in  the  true  old  Ger- 
man heroic  spirit,  in  expiation  of  a  crime,  but  courageously 
despising  death  and  fighting  to  the  last.  Thus  the  heroes 
and  warriors  imagined  that  all  things  would  end  in  the  man- 
ner in  which  they  aspired  to  die,  sword  in  hand  on  the  bat- 
tlefield. The  ancient  notions  of  the  Germans,  with  regard 
to  the  intention  of  history  and  the  moral  to  be  deduced  from 
it,  are  most  clearly  expressed  by  the  symbol  of  the  ash  tree, 
the  first  Saga  that  speaks  of  the  destruction  of  gods  and 
men ;  nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  these  ideas  were  continually 


70  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

present  to  the  imagination  of  the  Germans.  The  indiffer- 
ence with  which  they  met  death,  nay,  the  eagerness  with 
which  they  sought  it,  their  high  estimation  of  a  virtuous  and 
honorable  life,  and  the  unfaltering  bravery  with  which  they 
opposed  irremediable  destruction,  are  characteristics  whose 
Bource  is  easily  traced  in  the  spirit  of  their  religion,  the  fun- 
damental principle  of  which  was  to  die  nobly.  To  die  on  the 
battlefield  was  sufficient  atonement  for  any  crime  of  which 
they  had  been  guilty.  They  allowed  their  gods  to  sin,  but 
made  them  die  like  heroes,  which  rendered  them  worthy  of 
a  future  and  glorious  resurrection.  But  their  gods  were 
merely  symbolical  of  themselves.  Thus  the  oldest  and  first 
song  of  the  Ed  da,  the  Voluspa,  commences.  A  Wale  ad- 
vances into  the  circle  of  the  gods,  and  in  awful  tones  an- 
nounces their  fall  and  the  destruction  of  the  lordly  Asgard, 
at  the  general  conflagration  of  the  world.  This  event  will 
be  caused  by  the  gods,  who  will  sin  in  common  with  the 
wicked  of  Ymer's  ancient  race,  and  will  consequently  be 
abandoned  by  the  inward  light  which  they  derived  from 
Muspelheim.  However,  the  golden  age  is  still  of  long  dura- 
tion; vengeance  does  not  soon  overtake  their  crime.  Then 
the  gods  gamble  in  heaven,  and,  heated  by  play,  do  not  per- 
ceive the  approach  of  three  daughters  of  the  giants,  who 
steal  their  golden  Runic  tables,  upon  which  Allfater  had 
himself  inscribed  the  laws  of  the  universe.  Then  the  golden 
age  is  at  an  end.  Care  and  anxiety  take  possession  of  the 
gods,  who,  forgetful  of  their  given  word,  kill  Angurbode, 
one  of  the  three  giantesses.  Loki  finds  her  out-torn  heart, 
and  falls  in  love  with  her;  and  as  until  now  he  was  ac- 
counted one  of  the  Asen,  he  goes  over  to  the  wicked  giants 
in  order  to  plot  the  destruction  of  his  former  companions. 
At  the  same  time,  a  young  wolf,  Fenrir,  which  was  brought 
up  in  Asgard,  grows  to  such  an  enormous  size  that  the 
Asen  begin  to  feel  uneasy.  In  vain  they  bind  him;  he 
breaks  every  chain.  At  length  they  try  to  bind  him  with  a 
charm,  but  he  does  not  allow  the  chain  to  be  placed  upon 
him  until  they  swear  that  it  is  not  a  charm.  They  for- 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  ANCIENT  GERMANS        71 

swear  themselves,  and  Tyr  has  the  courage  to  lay  his  hand 
as  security  in  the  wolf's  mouth,  who  instantly  bites  it  off  on 
discovering  the  deception.  The  gods  are  no  longer  worthy 
of  life.  Iduna,  or  immortality,  is  tempted  from  them  by 
a  giant;  however,  they  still  possess  Balldr,  or  enchanting 
beauty ;  but  the  ugly  quarrel  with  him,  and  his  only  brother, 
the  blind  Hodur,  is  unwittingly  incited  to  kill  him  by  Loki, 
and  his  wife,  Nana,  burns  herself  upon  his  funeral  pile. 
Then  the  Asen  take  foul  revenge  on  Loki,  and,  sinning 
against  sacred  nature,  bind  him  with  the  bowels  of  his  only 
son  to  three  pointed  rocks,  and  suspend  over  his  head  a 
snake  distilling  poison.  His  convulsions  produce  the  earth- 
quakes. The  end  of  all  things  is  now  at  hand.  The  rage  of 
the  gods  and  the  wickedness  of  men  increase.  Enmity  and 
hate  have  universal  rule;  then  come  fear  and  woe,  the 
hatchet  and  sword  age,  the  storm  and  wolf  era.  For  three 
years  there  is  unbroken  icy  winter,  the  frightful  Fimbul 
weather,  during  which  everything  is  buried  in  frozen  sleep, 
before  the  awful  end.  The  earth  begins  to  shake;  the 
dragon  has  gnawed  through  the  roots;  and  the  ash  tree, 
Ygdrasill,  will  fall  and  crush  the  whole  world.  The  wolf, 
Fenrir,  madly  struggles  with  his  bonds,  and  bursts  them. 
Loki  also  breaks  away  from  the  rocks.  Across  the  sea  come 
the  giants,  the  Hrymthursen,  in  the  ship  Nagelfar,  entirely 
built  of  the  nails  of  dead  men  fastened  together,  a  proof  of 
the  antiquity  of  the  world.  The  Mitgard  snake  rises  from 
the  ocean  like  a  gigantic  ghost,  and  they  all  besiege  Asgard 
from  below.  The  Asen  and  all  the  Einheriar  are  armed  and 
fight  their  last  glorious  battle,  nor  do  they  despair  of  suc- 
cess, until  Muspelheim  opens  from  above,  and  Surtur  issues 
in  flames  at  the  head  of  his  fiery  squadrons,  beneath  whom 
the  rainbow  bridge,  the  symbol  of  union,  breaks  asunder, 
and  everything  is  lost.  Heimdall  and  Loki  kill  themselves; 
Thor  slays  the  Mitgard  snake,  but  dies  of  his  poisoned 
wounds;  Freyr  is  burned  by  Surtur;  Odin  is  swallowed 
alive  by  the  wolf  Fenrir,  whose  open  jaws  reach  from  be- 
neath the  earth  to  heaven.  Finally,  the  whole  world  is 


72  THE  HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

destroyed  by  the  flames  of  Surtur,  and  becomes  Ragnarok, 
or  the  incense  of  the  gods.  After  this,  Allfater  will  create 
a  new  world,  devoid  of  evil. 


PART   II 
THE  WARS  WITH  THE  ROMANS 

XXVII.    The  Romans 

IN  the  eighth  century  before  Christ,  Rome  was  peopled 
by  fugitives  from  different  parts  of  the  country.  The 
city  was  at  first  governed  by  kings,  who  might  almost 
be  termed  robber  kings,  on  account  of  the  depredations  they 
committed  against  neighboring  nations.  The  Romans,  how- 
ever, strengthened  by  petty  conquests,  and  rendered  hardy 
and  independent  by  continual  warfare,  soon  drove  out  their 
kings,  and  founded  a  republic  on  the  plan  of  the  more  an- 
cient ones  of  Greece,  whence  they  subsequently  drew  their 
refinement  and  arts,  while  from  the  brave  Alpine  nations, 
with  whom  they  early  came  in  collision,  they  acquired  that 
heroic  spirit  which,  at  a  later  period,  rendered  them  as  for- 
midable to  the  Greeks  as  their  superior  science  and  knowl- 
edge became  to  the  Germans. 

Rome  was  yet  in  her  infancy  when,  four  centuries  B.C., 
two  immense  German  hordes,  the  Senones  and  Boii,  crossed 
the  Alps,  and  settled  in  the  fertile  plains  of  Italy.  Rome 
was  taken  and  burned,  but  quickly  recovered  from  this  first 
attack,  and  the  watchful  cunning  and  steady  courage  of  her 
inhabitants  soon  proved  fatal  to  the  warriors  of  the  north, 
whose  hardy  habits  had  gradually  degenerated  in  that  luxu- 
rious climate.  Their  impolitic  division  into  small  and  inde- 
pendent tribes  was  another  cause  of  their  ruin,  and,  after  a 
long  and  bloody  struggle,  part  of  them  were,  one  after  the 
other,  exterminated,  and  the  rest  incorporated  with  the  now 


THE  WARS   WITH  THE   ROMANS  73 

aggrandized  republic,  whose  warriors  had  exercised  their 
martial  spirit,  and  improved  their  military  tactics,  during 
this  long  and  difficult  war.  In  the  second  century  B.C., 
when  Rome  bore  sway  over  the  whole  of  Italy  as  far  as  the 
Alps,  and  had  even  subdued  the  southern  provinces  of  Gaul 
on  the  Rhone,  fresh  hordes  of  barbarians,  the  Cimbri  and 
Teutones,  crossed  the  Alps,  and  again  threatened  the  Ro- 
man power  with  destruction;  but  when,  in  their  proud  con- 
tempt of  Rome,  they  again  imprudently  divided,  they  fell  a 
prey  to  the  sagacity  and  prodigious  efforts  of  the  Romans, 
who,  compelled  by  necessity,  reformed  the  ancient  republic, 
and  by  conferring  on  the  plebeians  the  privileges  until  now 
monopolized  by  the  ancient  and  haughty  patricians,  gave  an 
impulse  to,  and  united  the  efforts  of,  every  class;  a  measure 
by  which  the  safety  of  the  mass  could  alone  be  secured,  and 
which  added  more  citizens  to  Rome  (for  the  inhabitants  of 
neighboring  states  became  ambitious  to  gain  that  honorable 
distinction)  than  she  gained  by  the  fame  of  her  victories  over 
the  Cimbri. 

Thus  Rome  a  second  time  owed  the  increase  of  her  power 
to  German  influence.  Her  insatiable  ambition  fed  by  con- 
quest, she  grasped  at  universal  dominion,  and  after  subduing 
all  the  countries  in  her  immediate  vicinity,  boldly  planned 
the  reduction  of  the  whole  world.  Greece,  Asia  Minor,  the 
northern  coasts  of  Africa,  the  whole  of  southern  and  western 
Europe,  every  Gallic  and  Celtic  country,  as  far  as  Britain, 
submitted  to  the  Roman  eagle,  which  was  alone  defied  by 
our  elder  brethren,  the  Persians,  in  the  fastnesses  of  Asia, 
and  by  the  Germans  beyond  the  Danube  and  the  Rhine. 
The  fearful  struggle  between  the  Romans  and  the  Germans, 
which  lasted,  almost  unbroken,  for  nearly  five  centuries  after 
the  war  with  the  Cimbri,  extended  along  the  shores  of  the 
Black  Sea,  and  followed  the  course  of  the  Danube,  and  of 
the  Rhine  as  far  as  the  Baltic.  At  one  time,  the  Germans, 
quitting  their  wild  forests,  would  lay  waste  the  Roman 
frontier ;  or  at  another,  the  Romans  would  march  their  well- 
disciplined  and  ironclad  legions  to  the  Weser  and  the  Elbe ; 
GERMANY.  VOL.  I. — 1 


74  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

and  in  this  manner  the  war  was  carried  on,  with  various 
fortune,  throughout  whole  centuries,  until  Rome,  sated  with 
the  spoils  of  countless  nations,  sank  into  the  lap  of  luxury, 
and  her  citizens,  raised  by  unjust  wars  to  unjust  dominion, 
lost  their  ancient  love  of  honor  and  liberty. 

The  legions,  flushed  with  victory,  ruled  despotically  over 
the  helpless  citizens,  destroyed  the  ancient  republic,  and 
raised  their  generals  to  the  throne,  who,  during  successive 
centuries,  turned  the  whole  force  of  the  mighty  Roman  em- 
pire against  Germany.  Millions  of  ironclad  men,  picked 
from  every  part  of  the  world,  well  disciplined  and  practiced 
in  every  species  of  warfare,  flexible  and  obedient  to  the  will 
of  their  skillful  leaders,  thirsting  for  glory,  or  maddened  by 
jealousy  and  revenge,  besieged  Germany  on  every  side,  and 
fell  upon  the  poor  half -naked  native,  whose  only  defense  lay 
in  the  dark  forest  depths  and  the  untaught  strength  of  his 
arm.  The  event  speaks  for  itself.  These  half-naked  tribes, 
after  the  longest  and  most  glorious  struggle  for  liberty  re- 
corded in  the  annals  of  mankind,  after  crushing  the  masters 
of  the  world,  and  shattering  their  boundless  empire,  now 
form  a  great  and  powerful  nation,  while  the  very  name  of 
Roman  is  vanishing  from  the  earth. 

XXVIII.    The  Senones  and  the  Boii  in  Italy 

ON  the  upper  Danube,  in  modern  Swabia,  dwelt  the 
Senones,  and  in  modern  Bavaria,  their  neighbors,  the  Boii. 
In  the  fourth  century  B.C.,  Helico,  a  carpenter,  came  to 
them,  bringing  with  him  the  juicy  grapes  and  golden  fruit 
of  Italy,  which  they  beheld  for  the  first  time,  and  greedily 
desiring  to  possess  a  land  that  produced  such  luscious  fruit, 
they  migrated  in  immense  hordes,  under  a  leader  named 
Brennus,  and  climbing  the  snow-topped  Alps,  descended 
into  the  smiling  valleys  of  the  Po,  whence  they  gradually 
reached  Rome,  whose  inhabitants,  at  that  period,  still  weak, 
and  depending  more  on  their  cunning  than  their  strength, 
begged  for  peace,  which  was  granted;  but  when,  breaking 


THE  WARS  WITH  THE   ROMANS  75 

their  oath,  they  suddenly  fell  upon  the  unsuspecting  stran- 
gers, Brennus,  justly  enraged,  severely  chastised  their  per- 
fidy, and  after  totally  defeating  them,  took  the  city  [B.C.  389] 
and  burned  it  to  the  ground.  The  aged  senators,  unwilling 
to  survive  the  destruction  of  the  city,  had  remained  in  the 
senate  house,  seated  in  state  in  their  white  and  purple  robes, 
with  scepters  in  their  hands;  and  when  the  Germans,  armed 
with  sword  and  brand,  rushed  tumultuously  into  the  hall, 
they  were  seized  with  awe  on  beholding  these  venerable  and 
motionless  figures,  which  they  imagined  to  be  spirits  or  stat- 
ues, until  one  of  them,  wishing  to  discover  whether  they 
were  alive,  took  hold  of  the  beard  of  one  of  the  senators, 
who,  resenting  the  insult,  struck  him  to  the  ground  with  his 
scepter.  The  illusion  was  instantly  dispelled,  and  the  sena- 
tors were  murdered.  The  Capitol,  which  was  commanded 
by  Manlius,  and  still  held  out,  narrowly  escaped  being  sur- 
prised by  the  Germans,  who,  during  the  night,  had  scaled 
the  rock  on  which  it  was  built,  when  the  sleeping  garrison 
was  aroused  by  the  cackling  of  the  geese,  disturbed  by  their 
approach.  One  thousand  pounds  of  gold  purchased  the  de- 
parture of  Brennus,  who,  with  the  insolence  of  a  conqueror, 
threw  his  sword  into  the  scales,  and  bade  them  add  its 
weight  to  the  ransom. 

The  Senones  and  Boii  afterward  settled  in  the  north  of 
Italy,  but  did  not  long  remain  at  peace  with  the  Romans, 
with  whom  they  were  so  continually  at  war  that  every  year 
produced  a  fresh  list  of  battles,  victories,  and  defeats.  In 
these  perpetual  struggles  with  their  belligerent  neighbors, 
the  Romans  quickly  acquired  the  military  skill  and  disci- 
pline which  in  course  of  time  rendered  them  so  formidable, 
and  so  superior  to  their  once-dreaded  opponents,  who,  had 
they  united  in  the  pursuance  of  one  settled  plan  of  warfare, 
might  have  crushed  the  Roman  empire  in  the  bud. 


76  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 


XXIX.    The  Senones  and  the  Boii  in  Greece  and 
Asia  Minor 

IN  the  third  century  before  Christ,  the  same  nations, 
uniting  with  several  others,  migrated  from  the  interior  of 
Germany  into  Greece.  They  consisted  of  Senones,  Boii, 
Cimbri,  Teutobodiaci,  etc.,  and  had  several  leaders,  among 
whom  was  another  Brennus.  Flushed  with  success,  and 
greedy  of  plunder,  they  attempted  to  seize  the  treasures  in 
the  sacred  temple  at  Delphi.  Their  impious  daring  was 
speedily  chastised.  A  fearful  whirlwind  and  storm  sud- 
denly arose;  the  earth  quaked,  the  rocks  fell,  and,  struck 
with  horror  and  dismay,  the  barbarians  fled.  Vast  numbers 
fell  by  the  hands  of  the  Greeks.  Brennus  was  wounded, 
and  the  remainder  of  his  army,  being  weakened  by  pesti- 
lence, and  in  danger  of  being  captured,  voluntarily  burned 
themselves  alive,  to  the  number  of  20,000  men,  together 
with  their  booty,  in  their  encampment.  The  soothsayers 
foretelling  disaster  to  another  horde  when  on  the  point  of 
giving  battle,  they  resolved  to  die  like  warriors,  and  after 
killing  their  wives  and  children,  rushed  into  the  midst  of  the 
enemy,  and  fell  at  the  point  of  the  sword.  A  third  horde 
had,  meanwhile,  crossed  to  Asia  Minor;  the  land  pleased 
them,  and  settling  there,  they  founded  a  nation,  named,  by 
the  Greeks  and  Romans,  Gallo-Grsecians,  or  Galatians;  the 
same  to  which  St.  Paul  addressed  one  of  his  Epistles.  They 
were  distinguished  by  different  names  among  themselves, 
and  were  divided  into  no  less  than  195  petty  tribes,  which 
were  comprised  under  three  heads  within  twelve  districts, 
and  had  a  general  place  of  assembly,  called  Drynaimet. 
The  twelve  representatives  of  the  districts,  who  formed  the 
supreme  council,  were  assisted  by  three  hundred  men;  a 
hundred  being  chosen  from  each  of  the  three  heads  or  chief 
tribes;  a  form  of  government  perfectly  similar  to  those  met 
with,  at  a  later  period,  in  Germany.  In  course  of  time, 
however,  some  men  contrived  to  get  themselves  elected 


THE  WARS   WITH  THE    ROMANS  77 

perpetual  dukes  of  Galatia,  and,  at  the  time  of  the  birth  of 
Christ,  this  nation  had  shared  the  fate  of  its  Asiatic  neigh- 
bors, and  had  fallen  under  the  Roman  rule;  but  it  always 
retained  its  original  language,  which,  according  to  St.  Hie- 
ronymus,  was  similar  to  the  dialect  spoken  in  the  country 
round  Treves.  Fourteen  hundred  years  after  the  settlement 
of  these  people  in  Asia,  when  the  German  crusaders  passed 
through  Galatia,  they  were  astonished  to  find  that  the  in- 
habitants spoke  with  the  Bavarian  accent.  The  greater 
part  of  the  settlers  were  originally  Boii. 

XXX.    The  Romans  in  the  Alps 

ROME  gradually  increased  in  power,  and  ere  long  threat- 
ened destruction  to  the  Senones  and  Boii  in  Upper  Italy, 
who  consequently  besought  the  assistance  of  their  brethren 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Alps.  Accordingly,  200,000  Ger- 
man warriors,  named  Gsesatse  (guests,  or  geeiseten,  iron- 
clad), marched  thence  toward  Rome;  their  leader,  Brito- 
mar,  a  Boii,  vowing  not  to  loosen  his  girdle  until  he  had 
taken  the  Capitol.  The  Romans  twice  suffered  defeat,  but 
the  whole  of  Italy  rising  in  the  common  cause,  an  army, 
consisting  of  700,000  infantry  and  70,000  cavalry,  was 
raised,  and,  commanded  by  the  brave  ^Emilius,  made  head 
against  the  invading  host,  which  it  succeeded  in  surround- 
ing near  the  River  Telamon,  where,  after  a  desperate  con- 
flict, victory  sided  with  the  Romans;  40,000  of  the  barba- 
rians were  slain,  and  their  chief,  Britomar,  was  taken 
prisoner  [B.C.  225].  Another  chief  and  all  his  followers 
killed  themselves  in  despair;  and  a  third,  Ariovistus,  took 
shelter  in  the  mountains,  where  for  two  years  he  was  sup- 
ported by  20,000  Cenomanni  and  Heneti,  but  was  finally 
overcome  by  the  Romans  [B.C.  223].  In  the  following  year 
[B.C.  222],  "Wiridomar  led  30,000  Germans  from  the  Rhine, 
who  were  also  defeated  by  the  Romans.  Wiridomar  fell 
by  the  hand  of  the  consul,  Marcellus.  Hannibal,  the  great 
Carthaginian  general,  who,  with  his  gigantic  elephants  and 


78  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

dark  Africans,  traversed  Spain,  Gaul,  and  the  Alps,  with 
the  design  of  crushing  the  ambition  of  Rome,  already  threat- 
ening to  enslave  the  world,  was  received  with  open  arms  by 
the  Alpine  tribes.  Some  of  the  Senones  and  Boii  fought 
under  his  command  at  Ticinum,  where  Cryxus,  a  descendant 
of  Brennus,  lost  his  life.  Ducarius,  the  leader  of  the  Boii, 
avenged  the  death  of  Wiridomar,  by  killing  the  consul  Fla- 
minius  in  single  combat  at  the  battle  of  Trasimene  [B.C.  217], 
on  which  occasion  the  Boii  buried  25,000  Romans  in  a  wood, 
and  used  the  skull  of  the  consul  Posthumus  as  a  sacrificial 
cup.  Hannibal  was,  however,  no  sooner  called  to  Carthage, 
on  account  of  the  invasion  of  Africa  by  the  Romans,  than 
fortune  again  sided  with  the  latter,  and  after  several  des- 
perate and  bloody  battles,  in  one  of  which  35,000,  and  in 
another  40,000,  of  their  number  fell,  the  Germans  were 
forced  to  retreat.  The  Boii  long  and  obstinately  defended 
the  fortresses  raised  by  them  beyond  the  Lake  of  Como,  but 
were  finally  obliged  to  cede  them,  together  with  their  strong- 
est fort,  Felsina,  to  the  Romans,  and  to  take  refuge  in  the 
mountains,  whence  they  carried  on  a  desultory  and  destruct- 
ive warfare,  until  betrayed  by  their  allies,  the  Cenomanni 
and  Heneti,  whose  knowledge  of  the  country  and  of  moun- 
tain warfare  proved  of  infinite  service  to  the  Romans ;  and 
at  length,  weakened  by  repeated  losses,  they  were  utterly 
annihilated  in  a  battle,  in  which  32,000  of  them  were  slain 
[B.C.  191].  This  victory  placed  the  whole  of  the  southern 
side  of  the  Alps  in  the  hands  of  the  Romans,  who  by  skill- 
fully exciting  the  mutual  jealousies  of  the  pett}r  mountain 
tribes,  some  of  which  they  took  into  their  alliance  and  raised 
to  the  rank  of  Roman  citizens,  and  by  systematically  exter- 
minating others  that  offered  resistance,  quickly  opened  a 
route  to  the  western  side  of  the  Alps,  and,  taking  possession 
of  Gaul,  made  the  beautiful  country  on  the  Rhone  into  a 
Roman  province,  whence  is  derived  its  present  name — 
Provence. 


THE  WARS   WITH  THE   ROMANS  79 


XXXI.    The  Getce  and  Bastarnce 

IT  is  uncertain  whether  the  Budini,  mentioned  by  He- 
rodotus, inhabited  the  west  or  the  north  of  Russia.  Their 
name,  blue  eyes,  light  hair,  and  sacred  forest  lakes,  indi- 
cate an  affinity  with  the  Goths  of  later  times  [B.C.  500]. 
The  Getse  dwelt  near  the  mouths  of  the  Danube,  behind 
them,  further  up  the  river,  the  Daci,  and  beyond  them  the 
Pannonians,  at  the  time  of  the  invasion  of  Darius,  king  of 
Persia,  who,  crossing  the  river,  narrowly  escaped  total  de- 
struction on  the  steppes  lying  northward.  His  alliance  was 
sought  by  the  Pannonians,  who  sent  to  him  a  tall  and  beau- 
tiful girl,  bearing  on  her  head  a  vessel  filled  with  water,  and 
spinning  while  she  led  a  horse  by  a  bridle  on  her  arm ;  on 
observing  his  surprise,  they  informed  him  that  they  were 
descended  from  the  Teucri  of  Troy,  and  that  all  their  women 
were  as  industrious  and  as  useful  as  the  maiden  he  beheld. 
On  his  penetrating  deeper  into  the  steppe,  the  Scythians 
(probably  of  Thracian  or  German,  Tartarian  or  Slavonian 
origin)  mockingly  presented  him  with  a  bird,  a  mouse,  a 
frog,  and  five  arrows,  signs  that  implied,  "Unless  you  can 
hide  yourself  in  the  air  like  a  bird,  or  under  ground  like  a 
mouse,  or  in  the  water  like  a  frog,  our  arrows  will  slay  you 
before  you  reach  our  frontiers";  a  threat  they  almost  suc- 
ceeded in  executing,  for,  enticing  the  Persian  army  further 
up  the  country,  it  was  surrounded,  and  only  rescued  from 
destruction  by  a  successful  stratagem.  We  learn  from  the 
Greeks  that  the  wise  Zamolxis  taught  the  doctrine  of  the 
immortality  of  the  soul  to  the  Getse,  whose  king,  Diceneus, 
made  him  their  legislator.  Long  after  the  disastrous  expe- 
dition of  Darius,  toward  the  close  of  the  fourth  century  be- 
fore Christ,  Alexander  the  Great,  when  attempting  to  extend 
his  Grecian  boundary  as  far  as  the  Danube,  overthrew  the 
Getse,  and  drove  the  Triballi,  one  of  their  tribes,  from  the 
island  of  Peuce,  which  was  probably  held  sacred  by  them. 


80  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

Pliny  names  all  the  German  tribes  of  the  Danube,  Peucini, 
from  this  island. 

The  Romans  had  no  sooner  gained  possession  of  the  Alps, 
than  they  sought  to  extend  their  dominion  further  eastward, 
over  Illyria,  and  to  bring  the  German  tribes  of  the  Danube, 
as  well  as  the  Greeks,  into  submission.  The  Illyrian  queen, 
the  brave  Teuta,  whose  ships  spread  terror  and  desolation 
along  the  coasts  of  Italy,  cut  off  the  heads  of  their  embassa- 
dors  and  long  bade  them  defiance,  but  being  at  length  de- 
feated, died  of  grief  [B.C.  229].  Gentius,  her  third  succes- 
sor, struggled  valiantly  against  them,  and  besought  the 
assistance  of  Perseus,  the  Grecian  king,  who,  influenced  by 
avarice  and  indolence,  left  him  to  his  fate,  and  he  was  forced 
to  yield  [B.C.  167].  The  embassadors  sent  on  this  occasion 
to  negotiate  peace  with  the  Romans  were  named  Teuticus 
and  Bellus.  The  wretched  Perseus,  when  too  late,  sought 
to  repair  the  consequences  of  his  procrastination,  and  assem- 
bled the  GetsB  and  their  northern  neighbors,  the  Bastarnse, 
in  order  to  make  head  against  the  Romans.  One  of  their 
leaders  was  called  Teutagonus.  The  avarice  of  the  king, 
however,  proved  stronger  than  his  apprehensions,  and  he 
refused  the  sum  demanded  by  his  allies;  one  of  whom, 
Clondicus,  king  of  the  Bastarnse,  indignant  at  this  base- 
ness, devastated  Thrace  and  returned  to  his  own  country, 
without  offering  any  opposition  to  the  Romans,  who  grad- 
ually subdued  all  the  mountain  tribes  of  Dalmatia  and 
Croatia,  one  of  which,  the  Stoeni,  rendered  desperate  by 
defeat,  preferred  death  to  slavery. 

XXXII.  Irruption  of  the  Cimbri  and  Teutones  [B.C.  113] 

IN  the  beginning  of  the  second  century  before  Christ,  a 
torrent  of  wandering  hordes,  the  Cimbri  and  Teutones,  de- 
scended from  the  Danube  to  the  Styrian  Alps,  giving  out 
that  a  flood  had  driven  them  from  the  North  Sea,  and  that 
they  were  in  search  of  a  country  wherein  to  settle.  During 
their  advance,  they  were  joined  by  several  of  the  southern 


THE   WARS   WITH  THE   ROMANS  81 

German  tribes,  among  others,  by  the  Boii,  one  of  whose 
leaders  was  named  Bojorix.  Their  progress  was  extremely 
slow,  owing  to  their  being  accompanied  by  women  and  chil- 
dren, cattle,  and  an  immense  number  of  wagons  laden  with 
booty.  The  armed  men  alone  mustered  300,000.  The  Cim- 
bri  had  15,000  horsemen,  clad  in  polished  steel  armor,  and 
armed  with  broad  swords  and  long  lances,  their  helmets  or- 
namented with  the  horns  of  wild  beasts,  wings,  and  plumes 
of  feathers.  These  people  were  of  gigantic  stature,  and  their 
long  flowing  golden  hair,  and  fierce  blue  eyes,  increased  the 
majesty  of  their  appearance.  The  Romans,  panicstruck  at 
their  approach,  dispatched  an  army  to  oppose  the  passage  of 
the  strangers  through  the  Alps,  and  to  secure  the  allegiance 
of  their  newly-acquired  Alpine  subjects.  The  wanderers  re- 
ceived the  Roman  deputation  peacefully,  and  said  that  they 
were  only  going  into  Gaul.  But  being  treacherously  misled 
by  Carbo,  the  Roman  general,  who  suddenly  fell  upon  them 
during  the  night,  while  they  were  engaged  in  a  narrow 
mountain  pass,  not  far  from  the  city  of  Noreja,  a  dreadful 
conflict  took  place,  which  terminated  in  the  total  discomfit- 
ure of  the  whole  Roman  army;  the  few  who  escaped  with 
the  general  owing  their  safety  to  a  storm,  which  suddenly 
arose  and  rendered  pursuit  impossible.  After  this  event, 
the  wanderers  remained  for  several  years  in  the  Alps,  slowly 
advancing  toward  Gaul;  the  sturdy  mountaineers  every- 
where swelling  their  ranks.  On  reaching  Helvetia  they 
were  joined  by  the  inhabitants  of  two  districts,  the  Tigurini 
(Zurichers)  and  the  Toygeni  (Toggenburgers),  headed  by 
the  youthful  Divico.  The  whole  swarm  now  poured  from 
the  mountains  into  Gaul,  and  took  possession  of  the  country 
as  far  as  the  seacoast,  the  inhabitants  flying  for  shelter 
within  the  walls  of  their  fortified  cities,  which  were  fruit- 
lessly besieged.  Their  attempts  to  subdue  the  German 
tribes,  or  Belgse,  inhabiting  the  Netherlands,  proved  equally 
futile.  The  Cimbri,  either  wearied  by  the  protracted  de- 
fense made  by  the  cities,  or  perhaps  merely  incited  by  their 
roving  and  warlike  habits,  and  attracted  by  the  fertility  of 


82  THE   HISTORY  OF  GERMANY 

the  southern  countries,  forgot  their  first  intention,  and,  while 
the  Teutones  were  busily  engaged  with  the  Belgee,  resolved 
to  quit  Gaul.  On  reaching  the  country  near  Marseilles,  they 
fell  in  with  a  Roman  army  guarding  the  frontier,  and  com- 
manded by  Silanus,  from  whom  they  demanded  permission 
to  settle  in  Italy,  which  being  refused,  a  battle  took  place, 
in  which  the  Romans  were  worsted.  Another  frontier  army, 
stationed  near  the  Lake  of  Geneva,  was  attacked  by  Divico 
at  the  head  of  the  Helvetians,  and  so  completely  defeated 
that  all  the  Romans  who  escaped  the  slaughter  were  taken 
prisoners  and  forced  to  crawl  ignominiously  under  a  lance, 
placed  horizontally  on  two  low  posts. 

Another  army,  under  Scaurus,  sent  to  oppose  them,  was 
also  defeated,  and  the  general  taken  prisoner.  He  was  after- 
ward slain  by  Bojorix,  the  youthful  German  chief,  in  a  fit 
of  passion,  excited  by  hearing  the  captive  Roman  proudly 
foretell  that  Italy  would  never  become  the  prey  of  the  Ger- 
man invader. 

Shortly  after  these  successes,  they  were  rejoined  by  the 
Teutones,  and  the  Romans  were  only  able  to  dispatch  against 
their  now  almost  irresistible  force  a  single  and  dispirited 
army,  commanded  by  two  generals,  Manlius  and  Ceepio, 
who  hated  and  finally  abandoned  each  other.  Csepio,  by 
plundering  Gaul,  imbittered  the  inhabitants  against  him, 
and  venturing  unaided  an  engagement  with  the  Germans, 
was  completely  beaten  [B.C.  105],  and  Manlius,  who  hastened 
to  his  succor  when  too  late,  shared  the  same  fate.  In  this 
conflict,  that  took  place  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhone,  no  quar- 
ter was  given ;  every  Roman  was  put  to  the  sword,  and  the 
immense  booty  that  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  victors  was 
consecrated  to  the  gods  and  cast  into  the  river.  The  prov- 
ince now  lay  open  and  defenseless ;  victory  had  abandoned 
the  Roman  eagle,  and  Rome,  amazed  and  helpless,  saw  her- 
self doomed  to  certain  destruction;  one  step  more,  and  all 
Italy  lay  at  the  feet  of  the  Germans,  when,  suddenly  re- 
nouncing their  project,  they  poured  across  the  Pyrenees  into 
Spain,  then  inhabited  by  the  warlike  Celtiberi,  with  whom 


THE   WARS   WITH    THE   ROMANS  83 

they  waged  a  futile  war  of  three  years'  duration,  while  the 
Romans  seized  the  unlooked-for  opportunity  to  make  fresh 
preparations  for  defense. 

Marius,  a  renowned  general,  by  birth  a  peasant,  intrusted 
with  the  sole  command,  and  armed  with  unlimited  authority, 
raised,  as  if  by  magic,  a  fresh  and  immense  army  from  the 
dregs  of  the  populace,  the  slaves,  and  foreigners,  which  he 
daily  exercised  in  military  tactics,  and  accustomed  to  the 
endurance  of  the  severest  hardships,  in  which  he  set  them 
an  example.  On  the  return  of  the  Cimbri  and  Teutones 
from  Spain  [B.C.  102],  he  was  strongly  intrenched  on  the 
Rhone,  and  firmly  resolved  to  dispute  the  passage  into  Italy, 
which  three  years  before  lay  free  and  open  before  them.  The 
two  hordes  now  judged  it  politic  to  separate,  and  while  the 
Teutones  attacked  Marius,  the  Cimbri  entered  the  Tyrol,  by 
which  country  they  intended  to  enter  Italy. 

XXXIII.    The  Destruction  of  the  Teutones 

THE  Teutones,  presenting  themselves  before  the  camp  of 
Marius,  demanded  land  on  which  to  settle  in  Italy,  which 
was  contemptuously  refused ;  and,  after  vainly  challenging 
him  to  battle  on  the  open  field,  they  made  a  furious  but  in- 
effectual attack  upon  the  camp,  whose  strong  walls  and 
ditches  withstood  their  irregular  mode  of  assault,  and  the 
Romans  soon  became  accustomed  to  the  sight  of  their  for- 
midable opponents,  who  ere  long,  weary  of  the  protracted 
siege,  resolved  to  leave  the  camp  in  their  rear,  and  to  con- 
tinue their  route  toward  Italy.  Their  column  was  six  days 
in  defiling,  nor  did  Marius  obstruct  their  passage,  although 
mockingly  asked  whether  he  had  any  message  for  Rome. 
As  soon  as  their  last  ranks  had  disappeared,  he  broke  up  his 
camp,  in  the  hope,  by  making  forced  marches  along  bypaths, 
of  overtaking  and  surprising  them  in  some  favorable  spot. 
The  Teutones,  meanwhile,  followed  the  course  of  an  Alpine 
torrent,  and  marched  up  the  country  to  Aix,  already  cele- 
brated for  its  medicinal  waters,  where  they  encamped  in  the 


g4  THE  HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

valley,  and  were  amusing  themselves  with  bathing,  feast- 
ing, drinking,  and  singing,  when  Marius  suddenly  appeared 
on  the  neighboring  heights.  His  soldiers,  although  fatigued 
with  a  long  march,  were  instantly  ordered  to  erect  a  fortified 
camp.  Evening  had  already  fallen,  and  Marius,  anxious  to 
avoid  a  night  attack,  which  might  prove  disastrous  to  him- 
self, strictly  prohibited  any  one  to  go  down  to  the  river  to 
slake  his  thirst,  lest,  by  that  means,  an  engagement  with  the 
Teutones  should  be  brought  on ;  but  some  of  the  men,  unable 
any  longer  to  endure  the  thirst  occasioned  by  a  long  day's 
march,  disobeyed,  and,  descending  to  the  river,  were  at- 
tacked by  the  Germans  who  were  bathing.  The  alarm  was 
instantly  given,  and  Germans  and  Romans  rushed  eagerly 
to  the  spot.  The  Romans,  dashing  across  the  stream,  at- 
tacked the  wagoned  encampment,  which  was  bravely  de- 
fended by  the  women,  while  the  men  rapidly  assembled 
from  the  more  distant  parts  of  the  camp,  and  almost  suc- 
ceeded in  obstructing  the  retreat  of  Marius,  who  at  length, 
though  with  great  difficulty,  regained  the  opposite  bank. 
The  Germans  spent  the  night  in  drinking  and  gambling, 
and  Marius,  filled  with  horror  as  he  listened  to  their  wild 
shouts  re-echoing  along  the  mountains,  vowed  to  sacrifice 
his  daughter  to  the  gods,  if  they  granted  him  victory.  The 
following  day  was  passed  on  both  sides  in  tranquillity,  the 
Germans  remaining  peaceably  in  the  valley,  and  Marius 
awaiting  more  favorable  omens  from  the  gods,  which  no 
sooner  appeared  than  he  prepared  to  attack  the  enemy  on 
the  following  morning,  and  sent,  under  cover  of  night,  a 
small  chosen  troop,  commanded  by  his  lieutenant,  Marcellus, 
to  take  up  a  position  to  the  rear  of  the  barbarians.  At  sun- 
rise Marius  issued  from  the  camp,  and  drew  up  his  army  in 
battle  array,  which  was  no  sooner  perceived  by  the  enemy 
than,  eager  for  the  fight,  they  crossed  the  stream  and 
stormed  the  hillside.  The  exertion  of  running  so  far,  and 
their  repeated  slips  on  the  steep,  smooth  surface  of  the  hill, 
speedily  rendered  them  weary  and  breathless,  while  the  Ro- 
mans, stationed  in  impenetrable  masses  on  the  edge  of  the 


THE   WARS    WITH  THE   ROMANS  85 

cliff,  easily  repelled  every  attempt  made  to  dislodge  them. 
The  immense  numbers  of  the  Germans  now  proved  an  addi- 
tional source  of  disaster.  Pressed  upon  from  behind,  unable 
to  find  a  firm  footing  on  the  slippery  ground,  or  to  use  their 
long  lances  and  swords  in  the  throng,  their  gigantic  frames 
exposed  to  the  short  keen  weapons  of  the  Romans,  who  now 
pressed  steadily  down  hill,  while  Marcellus  fell  upon  their 
rear  and  fearfully  redoubled  the  massacre,  as  many  dying 
of  suffocation  as  fell  by  the  sword,  they  sought  to  extricate 
themselves  from  the  fatal  position  into  which  their  reckless 
daring  and  ignorance  had  hurried  them,  by  flight. 

The  Teuton  women  defended  the  wagons  to  the  last, 
when  they  offered  to  capitulate  on  condition  of  their  honor 
being  respected,  which  being  refused,  they  murdered  all 
their  children,  and  then  killed  themselves.  Marius  pre- 
served the  most  valuable  of  the  spoils  to  grace  his  triumph, 
and  collecting  the  remainder  into  an  enormous  pile,  burned 
it  in  honor  of  the  gods.  The  spot  on  which  this  battle  took 
place,  enriched  by  torrents  of  human  blood  and  heaps  of 
slain,  in  the  following  year  produced  wines,  which  after- 
ward became  celebrated,  and  the  gigantic  bones  of  the 
Teutones  were  long  used  for  fencing  in  the  vineyards.  The 
greater  part  of  the  fugitives  were  taken  by  the  Gauls  and 
delivered  to  the  Romans.  Teutobach,  the  Teuton  king,  who 
was  discovered  and  taken  prisoner  in  a  neighboring  forest, 
was  of  such  gigantic  stature  as  to  overtop  all  the  other  tro- 
phies in  the  triumphal  procession.  He  was  the  same  who 
is  said  to  have  leaped  over  six  horses. 

XXXIV.   The  Destruction  of  the  Cimbri 

THE  Cimbri,  meanwhile,  traversed  the  narrow  passes 
leading  from  the  Tyrol  into  Italy,  and  viewed  with  delight 
the  snow-capped  mountains,  which  recalled  to  mind  the  win- 
ters of  their  northern  home.  Half  naked  and  seated  on  their 
large  shields,  they  slid  down  the  glaciers,  in  those  ancient 
times  one  of  the  favorite  amusements  of  the  Scandinavian 


86  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

mountaineers.  The  fertile  vales  of  Italy,  where  they  ex- 
pected to  meet  their  brethren,  the  Teutonesj  at  length  burst 
upon  their  view,  and  were  greeted  with  shouts  of  joy.  An 
army  under  Catulus,  who  had  not  ventured  to  oppose  their 
passage  through  the  Alps,  fled,  on  their  approach,  as  far 
as  the  river  Adige,  where,  throwing  up  intrenchments  on 
both  banks  of  the  stream,  they  awaited  the  enemy,  who, 
encamping  opposite  the  fortifications,  tore  up  trees  and  built 
enormous  rafts,  which  they  loaded  with  pieces  of  rock,  and 
floated  down  stream  in  such  huge  masses,  and  so  quickly 
one  after  the  other,  as  to  cause  the  bridge  connecting  the 
two  embankments  to  give  way,  and  the  river  to  overflow; 
whereupon  they  raised  such  a  fearful  war-cry  that  the  Ro- 
mans intrenched  on  the  further  bank  of  the  river,  deaf  to 
the  entreaties  of  their  commander,  fled  panicstruck;  while 
their  countrymen  on  the  opposite  bank,  imprisoned  within 
their  fortifications,  defended  themselves  with  such  persever- 
ing bravery  that  the  Cimbri,  struck  with  admiration,  gave 
them,  unasked,  peace  and  liberty.  The  wandering  hordes, 
intoxicated  with  success,  now  spread  themselves  over  the 
rich  country  around  Verona,  and  madly  reveling  in  the  lux- 
uries of  the  South,  carelessly  awaited  the  arrival  of  the  Teu- 
tones,  instead  of  whom  Marius  appeared  at  the  head  of  his 
victorious  army,  strengthened  by  that  of  Catulus.  The 
Cimbri,  unsuspicious  of  the  truth,  sent  a  deputation  to  de 
mand  land  for  themselves  and  the  Teutones,  to  whom  Marius 
replied,  "that  their  brethren  had  already  land  enough  to  rest 
upon,"  and,  in  explanation  of  his  words,  showed  them  the 
Teuton  king  in  chains.  In  silent  wrath,  the  Cimbrian  em- 
bassadors  returned  to  their  encampment,  and  on  the  follow- 
ing day  the  youthful  Bojorix,  seated  proudly  on  horseback, 
appeared  as  a  herald  before  the  camp  of  Marius,  according 
to  German  custom,  to  challenge  him  to  fix  the  time  and  place 
for  battle.  With  a  sneer  at  their  frank  and  loyal  chivalry, 
Marius  named  the  third  day,  and  the  dusty  plain  of  Vercelli. 
The  morning  of  the  thirtieth  of  July,  one  hundred  and 
one  years  before  Christ,  broke.  A  thick  fog  covered  the 


THE  WARS  WITH  THE   ROMANS  87 

whole  country.  The  Cimbri  were  drawn  up  in  a  solid 
square,  each  side  of  which  measured  7,500  paces.  The 
foremost  ranks  were  fastened  together  with  chains,  in  or- 
der to  render  it  more  difficult  for  the  enemy  to  break  through 
them ;  and  as  each  man  bore  a  shield  that  covered  his  body, 
the  whole  mass  resembled  a  wooden  wall.  Marius  on  his 
side  provided  the  long  spears  of  his  soldiers  with  grappling 
hooks,  with  which  to  drag  away  the  shields,  the  only  de- 
fense of  the  Germans  against  the  Roman  short  sword.  The 
battle  commenced,  and  the  Roman  cavalry,  deceived  by  the 
feigned  flight  of  the  Cimbrian  horse,  and  blinded  by  the  fog, 
were  drawn  between  them  and  the  mass  of  infantry.  In 
this  moment  of  danger,  Marius  entreated  the  gods  for  as- 
sistance, and  the  sun  suddenly  beaming  through  the  fog, 
which  a  high  wind  began  to  dissipate,  the  Romans  discov- 
ered their  perilous  situation  and  retired,  while  Marius,  joy- 
fully exclaiming  "The  victory  is  ours!"  made  a  vigorous 
charge  upon  the  infantry,  who,  dazzled  by  the  bright  sun- 
beams which  shone  full  in  their  faces,  and  suffocated  by  the 
clouds  of  dust,  were  speedily  deprived  of  their  shields,  and 
a  terrible  carnage  ensued.  Unable  to  extricate  themselves 
from  the  chain  that  bound  them  together,  and  fainting  be- 
neath the  excessive  heat  and  pressure,  the  living  were  dragged 
down  by  the  dead.  In  this  desperate  situation,  however,  some 
contrived  to  stand  their  ground,  and  with  impotent  rage  con- 
tinued the  struggle,  until  the  shades  of  night  veiled  the  scene 
of  horror.  Bojorix  fell,  sword  in  hand,  with  90,000  of  his 
followers;  60,000  were  taken  prisoners,  and  numbers  killed 
themselves  in  despair.  The  women,  dressed  in  black,  with 
their  golden  locks  in  disarray,  long  defended  the  wagons, 
and  slew  every  Teuton  who  fled  from  the  enemy.  "When 
all  was  lost,  they  killed  their  children  and  then  destroyed 
themselves.  The  Romans  even  then  did  not  gain  possession 
of  the  booty  without  a  third  battle  with  the  dogs  that  guarded 
the  baggage.  The  Helvetii,  who  had  not  quitted  the  narrow 
passes  of  the  Alps,  returned  quietly  to  their  own  country  on 
learning  the  disastrous  fate  of  their  allies. 


88  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

The  bravery  evinced  by  the  Germans  so  deeply  impressed 
the  Romans  that  the  terror  they  had  inspired  became  pro- 
verbial, and  created  a  dim  foreboding  that  their  empire  was 
destined  to  fall  by  the  hands  of  the  sons  of  the  North.  From 
this  time,  the  Romans  considered  the  Germans  as,  next  to 
themselves,  the  bravest  people  in  the  world;  a  belief  that 
was  considerably  strengthened  during  the  subsequent  wars, 
and  rendered  the  Romans  less  confident  in  their  own  power. 
The  wars  with  the  Cimbri  were  also  one  of  the  primary 
causes  of  the  gradual  decay  of  the  Roman  empire,  on  ac- 
count of  the  opportunity  they  afforded  for  the  usurpation 
of  the  chief  authority  by  plebeians,  foreigners,  and  soldiers. 
The  Cimbri  and  Teutones  may  thus  be  said  to  have  con- 
quered even  in  death,  and  although  without  the  participa- 
tion of  the  rest  of  the  Germans,  and  on  a  foreign  soil,  not 
to  have  fallen  in  vain  for  their  country. 

XXXV.  Mithridates — The  Insurrection  of  the  Cimbrian 
Slaves — The  Suevic  Confederation 

THE  Alps  remained  long  undisturbed  after  the  occur- 
rence of  these  memorable  events.  Rome,  meanwhile,  be- 
came a  prey  to  anarchy.  Marius,  supported  by  the  soldiery, 
attempted  to  seize  the  government,  but  after  a  furious  strug- 
gle was  at  length  forced  to  yield  to  the  young  and  haughty 
Sylla.  When  imprisoned  in  the  city  of  Minturnse,  whither 
ha  had  fled  for  safety,  a  Cimbrian  slave,  who  was  sent  to 
cut  off  his  head,  was  so  struck  by  the  countenance  of  the 
unarmed  old  man  that  the  sword  dropped  from  his  hand, 
and  the  citizens,  moved  by  the  incident,  restored  the  aged 
general  to  liberty.  About  the  same  period  the  Romans 
waged  war  with  Mithridates,  king  of  Pontus,  who  had 
boldly  planned  the  deliverance  of  the  nations  subject  to 
Rome.  His  youth  had  been  spent  among  the  Germans  be- 
yond the  Danube,  with  whom  he  afterward  connected  him 
self  by  marrying  his  daughters  to  their  chiefs,  who  assisted 
him  in  his  enterprise  against  the  Romans,  and  formed  the 


THE   WARS    WITH  THE    ROMANS  89 

chief  strength  of  his  army.  But  his  brave  and  heroic  spirit 
was  destined  to  sink  before  the  Roman  eagle,  and  after  los- 
ing three  battles,  being  forced  to  seek  safety  by  flight,  a 
German,  according  to  the  custom  of  his  nation,  yielded  to 
his  desire,  and  deprived  him  of  life  [B.C.  63].  At  the  same 
time  a  war  of  a  far  more  fearful  character  was  occasioned 
in  Italy  by  the  insurrection  of  the  slaves  (who  were  prison- 
ers, for  the  most  part  Germans  taken  in  war),  under  their 
leader,  Spartacus.  Gannicus  commanded  the  Cimbri.  For 
three  years  they  successfully  repelled  the  veterans  of  Rome, 
filled  Italy  with  terror,  and  even  threatened  the  imperial 
city.  But  at  length,  rendered  incautious  by  their  rapacity 
and  rashness,  and  becoming  disobedient  to  their  sagacious 
leader,  they  were  all  destroyed  before  they  could  succeed  in 
crossing  the  Alps  [B.C.  71]. 

The  migration  of  the  Cimbri  and  Teutones,  which  was 
doubtless  caused  by  pressure  from  the  North,  had  occasioned 
great  disturbances  throughout  Germany,  where  a  new  power 
had  probably  either  formed  in  their  rear,  or  after  their  de- 
parture, as  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that,  shortly  after 
the  Cimbrian  wars,  the  Suevic  confederation,  which  devas- 
tated every  country  in  its  vicinity,  and  annually  sent  forth 
a  thousand  warlike  adventurers  from  each  of  its  hundred  dis- 
tricts, is,  for  the  first  time,  mentioned.  While  yet  buried  in 
the  depths  of  their  wild  forests,  their  name  spread  terror 
through  the  Rhenish  provinces  and  even  reached  the  ears 
of  the  Romans.  The  Rhenish  Germans  also  owned  their 
inferiority  to  the  Suevi,  whom  they  considered  superior  to 
the  rest  of  mankind,  and  only  comparable  to  the  immortal 
gods.  Their  separation  from  the  western  tribes,  whom  in- 
stead of  succoring  they  attacked,  and  drove  into  the  hands 
of  the  Romans,  proved  calamitous  to  Germany.  Hemmed 
hi  on  every  side,  they  vainly  sought  to  defend  their  liberty ; 
and  the  tribes  on  the  Upper  Rhine  that  had  united  under 
Ariovistus,  with  those  on  the  Lower  Rhine  under  Ambiorix, 
were  forced  to  yield  to  the  victorious  legions  of  the  great 
Caesar. 


90  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 


XXXVI.  Ariovistus 

Two  Gallic  nations,  the  -<92dui  and  Sequani,  dwelling  on 
either  side  of  the  river  Saone,  quarreled  for  supremacy,  in- 
stead of  uniting  against  the  Romans,  who  had  already  taken 
possession  of  Provence,  and  were  only  watching  for  an  op- 
portunity to  seize  the  whole  of  Gaul.  The  Sequani,  being 
worsted,  called  their  neighbors  from  the  Upper  Rhine  to 
their  assistance,  the  Tribocci  from  Strasburgh,  the  Nemeti 
from  Spires,  the  Vangiones  from  Worms,  the  Rauraci  from 
Basil,  the  Tulingi  from  Tuttlingen,  the  Latobrigi  from  Breis- 
gau,  the  Marcomanni  from  the  Danube,  the  Sedusii,  Harudi, 
and  Narisci  from  between  the  Neckar  and  the  Maine,  in  all 
15,000  men,  under  the  command  of  Ariovistus  [B.C.  72],  who, 
uniting  with  the  Sequani,  at  the  first  onset  completely  de- 
feated the  -<3Mui,  when,  instead  of  returning  whence  they 
came,  they  resolved  to  settle  in  Gaul,  and  inviting  multi- 
tudes of  their  countrymen  over  the  Rhine,  ordered  the  Se- 
quani to  cede  to  them  the  third  part  of  their  land.  The 
Gauls,  alarmed  at  this  demand,  sought  assistance  from  the 
Romans.  Julius  Caesar,  the  celebrated  general,  whose  name 
descended  to  a  long  line  of  emperors,  was  at  that  period  com- 
manding in  Provence,  and  delighted  at  the  opportunity  thus 
afforded  for  war  and  conquest,  promised  his  aid  and  ordered 
Ariovistus  instantly  to  quit  Gaul;  to  which  the  German 
merely  replied,  "that  the  Romans  were  not  concerned  in 
his  affairs."  On  marching  up  the  country,  Caesar  was  in- 
formed by  his  spies  that  the  German  women  having  prog- 
nosticated evil  to  their  nation  on  a  certain  day,  the  Germans 
would,  on  that  day,  either  refuse  to  fight,  or,  if  forced  to 
do  so,  would  be  spiritless.  Taking  advantage  of  this  cir- 
cumstance, he  attacked  them  on  the  day  predicted,  and  they, 
imagining  their  gods  to  be  against  them,  were  easily  put  to 
the  rout,  and  Ariovistus,  whose  two  wives  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Romans,  escaped  across  the  Rhine  [B.C.  58]. 


THE  WARS  WITH  THE   ROMANS  91 


XXXVII.   Ccesar  on  the  Rhine 

ARIOVISTUS  was  no  sooner  driven  away  than  the  Gauls 
discovered  their  error  and  found  that  they  had  only  changed 
masters.  Caesar,  after  subduing  the  Helvetii,  made  the  whole 
of  Gaul,  notwithstanding  the  rebellious  spirit  of  the  inhabi- 
tants, into  a  Roman  province,  and  taking  advantage  of  an 
interval  of  peace,  attempted  to  extend  the  Roman  dominion 
as  far  as  the  Rhine,  the  left  bank  of  which  had,  for  a  con- 
siderable period,  been  peopled  by  a  multitude  of  German 
tribes  of  greater  or  less  importance.  On  the  Moselle  dwelt 
the  Treveri  at  Treves;  further  down  the  Rhine  the  Eburoni 
and  Tungri  at  Tungern ;  the  Gugerni  between  the  Maes  and 
the  Rhine ;  the  Menapii  to  the  south,  and  the  Batavi  to  the 
north,  of  the  mouth  of  the  Rhine ;  the  Caninefati  on  the  isl- 
ands. Joining  these,  to  the  west  were  the  Toxandri  and  Ma- 
rini  on  the  coast  of  the  North  Sea  at  Dunkirk ;  to  the  south, 
the  Atrebati,  Atuatici  (fugitive  Cimbri) ;  the  Condrusi,  Coe- 
resii,  Poemones,  the  Nervii  (a  powerful  people  in  Hainault), 
the  Veromandui  at  Vermandois,  the  Ambiani  at  Amiens, 
the  Bellovaci  at  Beauvais,  the  Suessiones  at  Soissons,  the 
Velocassi,  Caleti,  etc.  Although  all  these  people  were  gen- 
erally denominated  Belgae,  each  was  distinct  from  and  inde- 
pendent of  the  other,  nor  were  they  even  in  alliance.  They 
did  not  all  belong  to  the  Frankish  nation,  several  of  them 
having  migrated  from  different  parts  of  Germany.  Contin- 
ually at  feud  with  each  other,  they  had  only  momentarily 
united  in  opposition  to  the  Teutones.  Fighting  thus  singly, 
their  valor  was  powerless  against  so  formidable  an  antago- 
nist as  Caesar,  who  gradually  subdued  them,  and  easily 
suppressed  their  subsequent  attempts  to  shake  off  the  yoke 
[B.C.  57], 

Shortly  after  this  [B.C.  53]  two  nations,  the  Teucteri  and 
Usipetes,  who  had  been  driven  out  of  their  country  by  the 
Suevi,  crossed  the  Rhine,  and  demanded  land  from  Caesar, 
who,  unwilling  to  tolerate  so  many  warlike  German  tribes 


92  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

in  Gaul,  resolved  to  make  a  fearful  example  of  them,  in 
order  to  deter  others  from  crossing  the  frontier,  and  treach- 
erously seizing  the  German  leader,  who  had  come  into  his 
camp  for  the  purpose  of  negotiating  with  him,  suddenly  at- 
tacked his  unsuspecting  followers,  and  drove  them  into  the 
narrow  tongue  of  land  at  the  conflux  of  the  Maes  and  the 
Rhine,  where  the  greater  part  were  either  slaughtered, 
drowned,  or  taken  prisoners.  The  remainder  escaped  to 
their  native  country.  Throughout  the  Roman  empire, 
there  was  but  one  man  bold  and  honest  enough  to  require 
that  Caesar  should,  for  this  scandalous  breach  of  faith,  be 
delivered  up  to  the  Germans.  This  man  was  Cato.  Not 
long  after  this,  Caesar  threw  a  bridge  across  the  Rhine  at 
Andernach,  and  marched  into  the  country  of  the  Sicambri, 
who  had  refused  to  deliver  up  the  fugitive  Teucteri  and 
Usipetes.  Unable  to  oppose  him  by  force,  the  Sicambri 
laid  their  own  country  waste,  and  fled  with  their  wives, 
children  and  property  to  the  Wetterau,  whence  they  watched 
the  movements  of  the  enemy.  The  great  Suevian  confeder- 
acy, meanwhile,  flew  to  arms,  and  Caesar,  after  an  eighteen 
days'  march  through  the  silent  forests,  regained  the  Rhine 
without  having  seen  a  single  enemy. 

XXXVIII.  Ambiorix 

DURING  the  winter  preceding  the  year  B.C.  54,  a  danger- 
ous conspiracy  was  set  on  foot  by  the  conquered  Belgse,  who 
hoped  to  regain  their  freedom  by  simultaneously  murdering 
every  Roman  throughout  the  country.  The  plot  was  headed 
by  an  old  man  from  Treves  named  Induziomar,  and  by  the 
Eburoni,  Ambiorix,  and  Cativolcus.  The  Romans  had  four 
well-fortified  winter  camps  in  the  different  districts,  which 
it  was  resolved  to  attack  on  the  self-same  day.  The  strata- 
gem, however,  was  only  partially  successful,  but  one  of  the 
camps  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  insurgents,  and  the  brave 
Induziomar  was  killed  during  the  assault.  The  increased 
vigilance  of  the  Romans  rendered  any  other  attempt  abor- 


THE  WARS  WITH  THE  ROMANS          93 

tive,  and  early  in  the  spring  [B.C.  54]  Caesar  appeared,  his 
ranks  swelled  by  the  Gallic  tribes.  The  Ubii,  a  German 
tribe,  dwelling  among  the  hills  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Rhine,  being  harassed  by  the  Suevi,  also  joined  him,  and 
eventually  proved  themselves  the  firmest  and  trustiest  allies 
of  Rome,  and  the  bitterest  foes  of  their  kindred  tribes.  It 
was  a  common  event  for  the  Germans  to  be  at  feud,  but  for 
a  German  tribe  to  shelter  itself  behind  a  more  powerful  ally 
was  deemed  so  deep  a  disgrace  that  the  name  of  Ubii  became 
a  term  of  reproach.  Among  the  Treveri  there  were  also  sev- 
eral men  belonging  to  wealthy  families,  who,  in  the  hope  of 
being  able  to  usurp  the  supreme  authority  in  their  country 
by  the  aid  of  Caesar,  and  of  being  created  Roman  governors 
or  prefects,  enrolled  themselves  beneath  his  standard,  headed 
by  the  unworthy  nephew  of  the  patriotic  Induziomar.  The 
Belgae  no  sooner  came  in  sight  of  the  immense  army  of  the 
Romans,  led  by  their  victorious  general,  than  many  of  the 
tribes,  panicstruck,  quitted  the  confederacy,  and  laid  down 
their  arms ;  but  Caesar,  fearing  lest  the  more  powerful  Ger- 
man tribes  on  the  Upper  Rhine  might  join  the  Belgae,  unex- 
pectedly crossed  the  river,  and  made  an  inroad  up  the  coun- 
try, which  was  again  unsuccessful,  and  after  traversing 
uninhabited  wilds,  he  hurried  back  to  the  forest  of  Ar- 
dennes, in  order  to  destroy  Ambiorix,  who,  unaware  of  his 
approach,  was  peacefully  seated  with  his  friends  in  front  of 
his  solitary  dwelling,  when  they  were  suddenly  attacked 
by  the  Romans.  With  desperate  fury,  he  fought  his  way 
through  the  forest,  and  the  Belgae,  believing  him  to  be 
dead,  and  despairing  of  success,  dispersed.  His  friend, 
Cativolcus,  unable  to  survive  his  loss,  killed  himself.  The 
whole  country  was  laid  waste  by  fire  and  sword.  The  Si- 
cambri,  allured  by  the  prospect  of  booty,  now  took  advan- 
tage of  the  general  confusion  and  fell  upon  the  Romans, 
whom  they  stripped  of  some  of  their  ill-gotten  wealth. 
Ambiorix  also  reappeared  at  the  head  of  a  small  troop  of 
patriots,  which  he  had  collected  in  the  thickets  of  the  Ar- 
dennes, and  daily  harassed  and  plundered  the  invaders.  In 


94  THE   HISTORY  OF    GERMANY 

the  following  year  [B.C.  53]  success  at  first  attended  the 
arms  of  the  Belgian  patriots,  and  the  whole  of  Gaul  rose 
against  the  Romans ;  but  Caesar  was  again  victorious,  Gaul 
was  reduced  into  a  Roman  province,  and  the  Belgae  were 
rendered  tributary,  and  obliged  to  furnish  a  contingent  to 
Rome. 

XXXIX.  Boirebistas 

THE  intestine  feuds  of  the  warlike  tribes  to  the  north  of 
Mount  Haemus,  the  Getae,  Bastarnae,  and  Daci,  were  of  in- 
finite service  to  the  Romans  while  engaged  in  subduing  the 
Alpine  tribes,  Illyria,  and  Greece.  King  Boirebistas,  cross- 
ing the  Haemus  at  the  head  of  the  chief  tribes  of  the  Getae, 
devastated  Thrace,  Macedonia,  and  Illyria;  but,  instead  of 
turning  his  arms  against  the  Romans,  attacked  the  Boii, 
and  Taurisci,  remaining  on  the  frontiers  of  Austria  and 
Hungary,  and,  after  a  bloody  battle,  defeated  their  king 
Critasiros  and  laid  the  country  waste.  The  mountain  tribes 
of  Illyria  and  Dalmatia,  taking  advantage  of  the  quarrels 
that  broke  out  between  Caesar  and  Pompey,  Antony  and 
Augustus,  rose"  en  masse,  but,  after  a  desperate  struggle, 
were  again  reduced  to  submission.  Teutimus,  the  Dalma- 
tian chief,  long  defended  the  mountain  fastnesses ;  and  the 
Taurisci,  taking  possession  of  the  narrow  passes  of  the  Ty- 
rol, slew  every  Roman  who  attempted  to  pass  into  Switzer- 
land, at  that  time  a  Roman  province.  At  length,  after  a 
dreadful  slaughter  on  both  sides,  the  Romans  advanced  from 
the  Lake  of  Constance  into  the  mountains,  and  systematic- 
ally exterminated  the  inhabitants.  Every  man  fell  sword 
in  hand,  and  the  women,  maddened  by  despair,  flung  their 
children  into  the  faces  of  the  enemy.  The  Roman  historian 
turns  with  horror  from  the  monstrous  crimes  that  blacken 
the  page  in  which  the  destruction  of  the  ancient  inhabitants 
of  the  Tyrol  by  Tiberius,  afterward  emperor  of  Rome,  is 
recorded. — About  the  period  when  Rome  was  erected  into 
an  empire  under  Augustus — at  the  time  of  the  birth  of  Christ 
— all  the  countries  to  the  south  of  the  Danube,  and  westward 


THE  WARS   WITH  THE   ROMANS  95 

of  the  Rhine,  were  incorporated  with  it.  The  petty  German 
tribes  of  Frankish  descent,  on  the  Rhine,  allured  by  the  pros- 
pect of  gaining  wealth  and  distinction,  enrolled  themselves 
beneath  the  Roman  standard.  The  Alpine  tribes  preferred 
death  to  bondage,  while  others  awaited,  in  feigned  subjec- 
tion, an  opportunity  for  revolt.  As  a  means  of  preserving 
subordination,  Caesar  loaded  the  Germans,  who  entered  his 
army,  with  favors,  and  raised  them  to  the  highest  honors. 
It  was  to  the  bravery  of  his  German  mercenaries  that  he 
owed  his  most  brilliant  victories  over  his  rival  Pompey. 
From  this  period,  Germans  were  always  employed  in  the 
Roman  armies.  The  sons  of  the  German  nobility  were  also 
sent  as  hostages  to  Rome,  where  they  were  educated,  and 
becoming  enervated  by  luxury,  caused  these  frontier  tribes 
gradually  to  relax  from  the  hardy  manners  of  their  forefath- 
ers. For  still  greater  security,  Roman  colonies  were  planted 
along  the  frontier,  who  raised  cities  and  fortresses,  and  in- 
troduced their  religious  rites,  their  markets,  their  laws,  and 
their  luxuries  among  the  inhabitants;  so  that  within  a  very 
short  time  all  the  countries,  whose  inhabitants  were  at  first 
merely  tributary  to  or  in  alliance  with  Rome,  were  com- 
pletely transformed  into  Roman  provinces,  with  a  new 
language,  new  customs,  and  a  new  form  of  government. 

XL.    Drusus 

AUGUSTUS,  the  first  Roman  emperor,  dissatisfied  with  the 
limits  of  the  Gallic  frontier,  and  ambitious  of  extending  his 
dominion  beyond  the  wild  forests  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Rhine,  which  had  offered  an  invincible  obstacle  to  Sigove- 
sus,  the  ancient  Celtic  king,  and  to  the  legions  of  Caesar, 
sent  Drusus,  his  valiant  stepson,  at  the  head  of  a  powerful 
army,  to  conquer  Germany.  Between  the  Lower  Rhine  and 
the  Maine  dwelt  several  petty  tribes.  The  Mattiaci,  north  of 
the  Maine,  on  the  Taunus  Mountains;  further  north,  down 
the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine,  the  Teucteri,  Usipetes,  Cattu- 
anes,  and  Chamavi;  behind  them,  toward  the  interior  of 


96  THE  HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

Germany,  the  Catti  (Hessians);  the  Sicambri,  who  traced 
their  descent  from  the  gods,  in  Sauerland,  between  the 
Lahn,  the  Lippe,  the  "Weser,  and  the  Rhine;  the  Bructeri, 
in  Munsterland  (not  the  Friesland  Brockmen) ;  the  Marsi,  in 
Osnabruck ;  the  Fosi,  on  the  Fuhse  in  Hildesheim ;  the  Tul- 
gibini,  in  the  Duhlawald;  the  Ampsibari,  on  the  Ems;  the 
Angrivarii,  in  Enger;  the  Casuarii,  in  ancient  Hasegau; 
the  Tubantes,  around  Twenter,  in  ancient  Twentegau;  the 
Cherusci,  in  Harzgau,  whose  name  belonged  to  a  confeder- 
acy of  several  (gauen)  districts,  at  the  time  of  the  Roman  in- 
vasion, and  who  were  bounded  to  the  east  by  the  Hermun- 
duri,  on  the  Saal ;  the  Longobardi,  on  the  Elbe ;  the  Angli, 
Varini,  etc.,  on  the  coasts  of  the  Northern  Ocean;  beyond 
the  Belgae,  the  Frisii ;  in  the  country  of  the  Dithmarsi,  the 
Chauci;  in  Holstein,  the  Cimbri:  all  of  which  tribes  were 
now  attacked  by  Drusus,  who,  invading  the  country  of  the 
Frankish  Usipetes,  Teucteri,  Mattiaci,  and  Sicambri  [B.C.  12], 
laid  them  waste  by  fire  and  sword.  The  Catti,  who,  shortly 
anterior  to  these  events,  had  separated  from  the  Suevian 
confederacy,  refused  to  assist  their  suffering  brethren,  who 
found  equally  powerful  allies  in  the  Saxon  Bructeri  and 
Chauci;  and  Drusus,  alarmed  at  their  immense  numbers, 
prudently  withdrawing  from  their  neighborhood,  took  ship 
and  sailed  to  the  country  of  the  Frisii,  who  entered  into  al- 
liance with  him,  and  agreed  to  attack  their  neighbors  the 
Chauci,  with  whom  they  were  at  feud,  and  saved  the  Roman 
fleet,  which  had  stranded  on  the  low  coast.  The  autumnal 
fogs  and  rains,  however,  caused  the  Romans  to  accelerate 
their  return  southward,  and  the  only  advantage  gained  by 
both  these  expeditions  was  the  erection  of  a  fort  on  the 
Taunus,  and  of  another  at  the  mouth  of  the  Ems.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year  [B.C.  11]  the  six  allied  tribes  making  an  irrup- 
tion into  the  country  of  the  Catti,  who  had  refused  to  assist 
them,  Drusus  seized  the  opportunity,  and  again  devastated 
their  now  defenseless  districts  as  far  as  the  Weser,  where, 
meeting  with  the  Cherusci,  the  most  warlike  of  the  tribes 
of  Lower  Germany,  whose  impenetrable  forests  barred  his 


THE  WARS   WITH  THE   ROMANS  97 

further  advance,  he  again  retired,  harassed  by  the  tribes 
which  had  returned  victorious  from  their  expedition  against 
the  Catti.  A  great  battle  finally  took  place  on  the  Lippe,  in 
which  the  extraordinary  discipline  and  courage  of  the  Ro- 
mans alone  enabled  them  to  keep  the  field.  On  the  bank  of 
this  river,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Liese  and  the  Gleene  with 
the  Lippe,  Drusus  erected  the  important  fortress  of  Aliso 
(Liesborn),  and  extending  thence  a  strong  earthen  wall  across 
the  morasses  as  far  as  the  Rhine,  secured  a  military  road 
into  the  interior  of  Germany ;  after  which  he  recrossed  the 
Rhine,  and  built  about  fifty  fortresses  and  towers  along  its 
banks. 

The  ensuing  campaign  was  carried  on  in  the  country  of 
the  Catti  [B.C.  10],  where  he  succeeded  in  building  some 
roads  and  bridges,  which  proved  serviceable  in  his  next  ex- 
pedition against  this  people,  whose  Jand  he  laid  waste  as  far 
as  the  Suevian  boundary ;  when,  fearing  to  offend  that  pow- 
erful state,  he  turned  northward,  and  pushed  through  the 
Cheruscian  forests  as  far  as  the  Elbe,  on  whose  opposite 
bank  he  beheld  a  prophetess  of  gigantic  stature,  who,  with 
a  threatening  gesture,  exclaimed,  "Ah!  insatiable  Drusus! 
to  what  do  you  aspire?  Fate  has  forbidden  your  advance 
through  our  unknown  regions!  Fly  hence!"  Terror-struck 
at  the  omen,  Drusus  again  retreated,  but,  before  reaching 
Aliso,  his  horse  fell,  and  he  was  killed  on  the  spot.  He  was 
buried  at  Mayence,  beneath  the  Eichelstein  (from  the  Roman 
eagle,  aquila).  To  the  present  day  the  peasants  of  Lower 
Germany  curse  in  the  name  of  Drus,  whom  they  imagine  to 
be  something  worse  than  the  devil.  After  his  death  his 
brother,  Tiberius  [B.C.  8],  invaded  the  country  of  the  Usi- 
petes  and  Teucteri,  whom  he  subdued  and  threatened  with 
extermination,  unless  they  persuaded  the  Sicambri  to  yield. 
Upon  this  the  chiefs  of  the  Sicambri  were  sent  to  negotiate 
conditions,  but  were  treacherously  seized  by  Tiberius,  who 
suddenly  attacked  and  subdued  the  whole  nation,  whose  im- 
prisoned chiefs  killed  themselves,  according  to  the  custom  of 
their  country.  After  committing  this  act  of  violence  and 
GERMANY.  VOL.  I. — 5 


98  THE  HISTORY  OF  GERMANY 

fraud,  Tiberius  sought  to  gain  the  hearts  of  the  Germans  by 
peaceable  means,  and  by  deceptive  arts.  For  this  purpose, 
he  invited  the  most  influential  men  from  the  neighboring 
districts,  and  giving  them  posts  of  honor  in  his  army,  loaded 
them  with  gifts,  and  incited  them  to  usurp  the  chief  author- 
ity in  their  several  districts,  and  to  rule  despotically  over 
their  fellow  citizens.  Few,  however,  attached  themselves  to 
him.  Domitius,  another  Roman  general,  who  shortly  after- 
ward [B.C.  6]  undertook  an  expedition  to  the  Elbe,  which  he 
reached,  rendered  the  Roman  name  feared  by  his  boldness, 
and  himself  beloved  by  his  gentleness  and  generosity.  The 
Belgae,  on  the  coast,  soon  after  revolted  [A.  D.  3],  but  were 
again  subdued,  and,  in  the  following  year,  Tiberius  sailed 
with  a  numerous  fleet  from  the  Northern  Ocean  up  the  Elbe, 
on  whose  banks  a  sharp  conflict  took  place  with  the  Longo- 
bardi,  Senones,  and  Hermunduri  [A.D.  4],  in  which  he  was 
victorious.  On  this  occasion,  an  aged  warrior  of  the  Se- 
nones, approaching  Tiberius,  cordially  offered  him  his  hand, 
rejoicing  that  in  his  old  age  he  had  beheld  such  a  warlike 
people  as  the  Romans,  a  worthy  opponent  being  the  Ger- 
man's greatest  glory.  Sentius,  who  was  afterward  prefect 
of  the  Rhine,  treated  the  people  with  such  humanity  that 
they  voluntarily  adopted  the  customs  and  acquired  the  use- 
ful arts  of  the  Romans. 

XLI.    Varus  in  Germany 

SENTIUS  was  succeeded  by  Yarus,  a  confidential  friend 
of  the  emperor  Augustus;  a  man  of  high  talent,  and  well 
acquainted  with  the  systematic  government  of  the  subdued 
provinces.  The  remains  of  his  magnificent  villa,  not  far 
from  those  of  his  celebrated  friends,  Horace  and  Maecsenas, 
the  favorites  of  the  great  Augustus,  may  still  be  seen  in  the 
beautiful  vale  of  Tivoli.  This  able  and  learned  man,  blinded 
by  his  enthusiastic  desire  for  the  introduction  of  the  customs 
of  Rome  among  the  barbarous  Germans,  imagined  that  civ- 
ilization must  be  welcomed  with  joy  and  gratitude,  and  for- 


THE  WARS   WITH  THE   ROMANS  99 

got  that  liberty  is  beyond  price.  As  long  as  he  remained 
peaceably  in  his  headquarters,  which  extended  from  the  left 
to  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine,  enriched  the  natives  with 
gifts,  made  them  acquainted  with  the  costly  and  luxurious 
articles  of  the  South,  erected  markets,  and  took  their  sons 
into  the  imperial  army,  they  loved  and  treated  him  as  a 
guest;  but  when,  emboldened  by  success,  he  extended  his 
forces  across  the  Weser  into  the  land  of  the  Cherusci,  and 
supported  by  Segestus,  a  treacherous  chief  of  that  nation, 
began  to  tyrannize  over  them,  by  rigorously  enforcing  the 
Roman  laws,  and  chastising  and  executing  the  freeborn  Ger- 
mans, their  goodwill  changed  into  inveterate  hatred,  and 
they  determined  to  rid  themselves  of  the  despotic  stranger. 
Awed  by  the  Roman  army,  which  consisted  of  more  than 
30,000  picked  men,  encamped  in  impregnable  intrenchments, 
they  long  brooded  in  silence  over  their  wrongs ;  until  a  hand- 
some athletic  youth,  named  Armin,  of  the  nation  of  the  Che- 
rusci, of  noble  descent  and  irreproachable  life,  skilled  in  the 
art  of  war,  which  he  had  learned  from  the  Romans,  in  whose 
armies  he  had  served  with  such  distinction  as  to  gain  the 
honors  of  knighthood,  gifted  with  eloquence  and  inspired  by 
an  enthusiastic  love  of  liberty,  appeared  among  his  dispirited 
countrymen,  whose  courage  he  quickly  roused,  and  a  gen- 
eral conspiracy  was  set  on  foot  in  Lower  Germany  against 
the  Romans,  whose  destruction  was  planned  in  midnight 
meetings  in  the  silent  depths  of  the  forests,  and  Armin, 
whose  brother  and  nearest  relatives  favored  the  Romans, 
became  the  leader  and  the  soul  of  the  confederacy.  Not- 
withstanding the  secrecy  with  which  these  meetings  were 
held,  they  were  discovered  by  Segestus,  who,  in  the  hope  of 
increasing  his  power,  and  of  avenging  himself  upon  Armin, 
who  had  deprived  him  of  his  beautiful  and  patriotic  daugh- 
ter, Thusnelda,  instantly  betrayed  the  designs  of  his  country- 
men to  Varus,  who,  confiding  in  his  own  power,  and  despis- 
ing that  of  the  Germans,  treated  the  matter  with  contempt 
and  incredulity. 


100  THE   HISTORY   OP    GERMANY 


XLIL    The  Battle  in  the  Teutoburg  Forest 

AUTUMN  had  fallen  [A.D.  9],  bringing  the  long  rainy  sea- 
son characteristic  of  the  North,  when  Armin  began  to  carry 
his  long-cherished  plan  into  execution.  According  to  Dio 
Cassius,  he  first  induced  Varus  to  send  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  troops  into  different  parts  of  the  country,  in  order 
to  procure  a  winter  supply  of  provisions,  or  to  keep  watch 
over  the  neighboring  tribes,  which  had  not  submitted  to  the 
Romans,  and  then  succeeded  in  drawing  him  with  his  whole 
force  out  of  the  fortifications,  by  secretly  inciting  a  some- 
what distant  tribe,  whose  name  is  not  mentioned,  to  revolt. 
Dio  Cassius,  whose  account  is  by  far  the  most  precise,  par- 
ticularly mentions  that  Varus'  road  lay  through  the  midst 
of  apparently  friendly  tribes,  who,  by  Armin's  advice,  joined 
him,  in  order  to  avert  suspicion;  and  as  there  were  no  tribes 
lying  toward  the  interior  of  Germany  who  had  yet  been 
subjected  by  the  Romans,  Varus  could  not  therefore  have 
marched  in  that  direction,  nor  was  it  likely  that  he  would 
undertake  an  expedition  into  those  unknown  regions  at  the 
commencement  of  the  winter  season ;  it  is,  consequently,  far 
more  probable  that  the  revolt  broke  out  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion, and  obliged  him  to  advance  toward  the  Rhine.  It  was 
also  evidently  the  Catti  who  attacked  him  on  his  march 
thither,  while  Armin  fell  upon  his  rear;  a  supposition  con- 
firmed by  the  circumstance  of  his  having  quitted  the  camp 
at  the  head  of  the  whole  of  his  troops,  accompanied  by  all 
the  baggage,  women,  and  children,  which  would  not  have 
been  the  case  had  he  intended  to  maintain  his  headquarters 
on  the  Weser,  while  making  an  expedition  against  a  distant 
tribe.  According  to  Clostermeier  and  Ledebur,  the  summer 
quarters  of  the  Romans  lay  below  Minden  in  Prussia,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Reme,  at  the  confluence  of  the  "Weser  and  the 
Werra,  in  the  widest  part  of  the  valley  of  the  "Weser.  While 
marching  thence  straight  upon  Aliso,  Varus  was  accompa- 
nied some  distance  by  Armin,  who,  under  pretense  of  taking 


THE   WARS   WITH  THE    ROMANS  101 

a  shorter  path,  beguiled  him  into  the  narrow  mountain 
passes  between  the  Weser  and  the  cities  of  Herford  and  Sal- 
zufeln,  and,  the  instant  the  vanguard  entered  the  forest, 
gave  the  signal  for  the  general  insurrection.  The  Roman 
soldiers,  who  had  been  distributed  among  the  various  dis- 
tricts, were  simultaneously  murdered.  The  ambushed  Ger- 
mans poured  in  thousands  from  the  surrounding  forests, 
breathing  death  and  vengeance  on  their  foes,  against  whom 
heaven  itself  seemed  to  conspire.  A  dreadful  storm  arose; 
the  mountain  torrents,  swollen  by  the  heavy  rains,  over- 
flowed their  banks;  and  while  the  Romans,  encumbered 
with  baggage,  and  wearied  by  the  toilsome  march,  passed 
in  long  and  irregular  columns  through  the  narrow  valleys, 
the  fearful  war-cry  of  the  Germans  was  suddenly  heard 
above  the  roaring  of  the  wind  and  waters.  They  halted, 
panicstruck,  and  were  in  a  moment  assailed  with  stones, 
arrows,  and  lances,  while  the  Germans  rushed  like  a  torrent 
from  the  heights,  spreading  terror  and  destruction  around. 
The  well-disciplined  Romans,  quickly  recovering  from  their 
surprise,  formed  into  larger  masses,  and  offered  a  determined 
resistance.  The  battle  continued  until  nightfall,  when  they 
gained  a  more  open  spot,  where  they  intrenched  themselves; 
but  surrounded  by  the  enemy,  and  entirely  without  provis- 
ions, defense  was  useless,  and  their  only  safety  lay  in  flight. 
Accordingly,  at  sunrise,  after  burning  all  their  baggage,  they 
commenced  their  retreat,  and  after  passing  through  an  open 
plain  on  the  Werra  in  tolerable  order,  though  not  without 
considerable  loss,  re-entered  the  forest-clad  mountains  at 
Detmold,  where,  bewildered  in  an  impassable  valley,  an 
immense  slaughter  took  place;  according  to  Tacitus,  in  the 
Teutoburg  forest,  "in  saltu  Teutoburgiensi, "  probably  in  the 
valley  where  the  Berlebeche  flows  beneath  the  Groteberg  or 
Teut,  whose  summit  is  surrounded  with  a  double  Hunnish 
ring  of  stones,  and  at  whose  feet  lies  the  Teutehof,  the  owner 
of  which  is  named  the  Teutemaier.  The  survivors  again  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  an  open  spot,  where  a  small  encampment 
was  hastily  thrown  up  for  defense  during  the  night.  On  the 


102  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

following  morning,  when  not  far  from  Aliso,  fresh  tribes, 
probably  the  Catti,  stopped  their  further  progress,  and  they 
were  completely  surrounded  and  annihilated  between  Oster- 
holz,  Schlangen,  and  Haustenbeck.  Varus  threw  himself 
upon  his  sword.  A  few  of  the  Romans  escaped  to  Aliso,  but 
afterward  secretly  abandoned  that  fort  under  the  command 
of  Lucius  Caeditius,  and  fought  their  way  to  the  Rhine. ' 

Armin  now  offered  sacrifices  to  the  gods,  to  whom  he 
consecrated  the  booty,  the  slain,  and  the  chief  prisoners. 
He  took  bloody  reprisals  on  the  judges  and  lawyers,  the 
chief  objects  of  his  hatred:  "Viper,  speak!"  was  said  to 
one  of  them,  as  his  tongue  was  being  pierced.  The  rest 
of  the  prisoners  were  iriade  slaves.  The  news  of  this  defeat 
quickly  spread,  and  the  Romans,  fearful  lest  the  enemy,  pur- 
suing their  victory,  might  cross  the  Rhine,  hastily  intrenched 
themselves,  and  sent  to  Rome  for  assistance.  The  terror  for- 
merly inspired  by  the  German  name,  by  the  memory  of  the 
wars  of  the  Cimbri  and  Teutones,  and  of  the  revolt  of  the 
slaves,  awoke  afresh.  The  imperial  German  bodyguard, 
and  the  Germans  employed  in  the  Roman  service,  were  in- 
stantly sent  into  distant  provinces,  and  recruits  were  raised 
in  every  part  of  the  country  for  the  formation  of  an  immense 
army  destined  for  the  protection  of  Gaul ;  but  so  great  was 
the  universal  terror  that  the  Romans  refused  to  serve,  until 
forced  under  pain  of  death.  These  preparations  proved, 
however,  unnecessary;  the  Germans — satisfied  with  effacing 
every  trace  of  the  Romans,  by  the  destruction  of  the  forts 
and  the  military  roads  as  far  as  the  Rhine,  which  again  be- 
came the  boundary  of  the  Roman  empire — remaining  peace- 
ably within  their  frontiers. 

XLIII.   Germanicus  on  the  Rhine 

PEACE  reigned  a  while.  Tiberius  was  raised  to  the  im- 
perial throne  [A.D.  14],  and  the  son  of  Drusus,  who  after- 

1  Clostermeier's  account — where  Hermann  overcame  Varus.  Lemgo,  1822, 
contains  a  full  description  of  the  locality  of  this  celebrated  defeat. 


THE  WARS   WITH   THE   ROMANS  103 

ward  received  the  surname  of  Germanicus,  was  placed  at  the 
head  of  the  forces  on  the  Rhine,  in  the  hope  of  revenging 
the  discomfiture  of  the  Roman  arms,  and  of  reconquering 
Germany.  In  the  course  of  the  year  he  suddenly  fell  upon 
the  Marsi,  while  they  were  holding  a  sacred  feast,  and  lying 
around  the  temple  of  Tanfana,1  intoxicated  and  asleep.  Im- 
mense numbers  were  slain,  but  the  neighboring  tribes  com- 
ing to  their  assistance  forced  him  to  recross  the  Rhine. 

The  following  year  [A.D.  15],  when  he  was  setting  out 
on  a  campaign  against  the  Catti,  Sigismund,  the  son  of 
Segestus,  came  to  implore  his  aid  against  Armin,  who  was 
closely  besieging  his  father,  into  whose  hands  Thusnelda 
had  fallen,  and  Germanicus,  suddenly  entering  the  country 
of  the  Cherusci,  freed  Segestus  and  took  possession  of  his 
daughter.  The  youthful  wife  of  Armin  was  far  advanced 
in  pregnancy  when  led  in  the  triumphal  procession,  and  bore 
her  miserable  fate  without  a  tear;8  her  own  father,  whose 
treason  had  been  rewarded,  and  whose  avarice  had  been 
gratified  by  a  gift  of  lands  in  Gaul,  his  life  being  no  longer 
secure  in  his  own  country,8  gazing  unmoved  on  the  wretched- 
ness of  his  child.  The  news  of  this  disaster  soon  reached 
Armin,  who  flew  (volitabaf)  throughout  Germany,  rousing 
his  countrymen  to  vengeance.  Enraged  at  this  insult  to 
Thusnelda,  the  Germans  rose  to  a  man,  and  even  Inguio- 
mar,  the  ancient  friend  of  the  Romans,  joined  Armin,  who 
soon  again  found  himself  at  the  head  of  a  formidable  army. 
Germanicus,  meanwhile,  had  prepared  for  war,  and  sailed 
with  a  numerous  fleet  from  the  Northern  Ocean  to  the  Ems, 
while  an  army  was  dispatched  to  the  coasts,  and  a  third, 
commanded  by  Csecinna,  advanced  through  the  country  of 
the  Marsi.  Armin  and  his  Germans  now  retreated  with 


1  A  name  that  has  had  many  derivations,  the  most  probable  of  which  seems 
to  be  Fahne,  or  sacred  standard,  raised  in  Tann,  or  fir-wood. 

2  Mariti  magis  quam  parentis  animo,  neque  victa  in  lacrymas,  neque  voce 
supplex,  compressis  intra  sinum  manibus,  gravidum  uterum  intuens. — Tac.  Ann. 

3  The  popular  legends  of  Thusnelda  are  still  extant,  one  of  which  relates 
how,  when  concealed  in  the  old  fort  of  Schellenpyrmont,  a  faithful  bird  warned 
her  by  his  cries  of  the  stealthy  approach  of  the  Romans. 


104  THE  HISTORY  OF    GERMANY 

their  families  and  property,  and  the  whole  country  was  laid 
waste  by  the  Romans,  who  advanced  unopposed  as  far  as 
the  recent  scene  of  slaughter,  where,  with  lamentations  and 
cries  for  vengeance,  Germanicus  caused  the  hones  of  the 
legions  of  Varus  to  be  buried.  Meanwhile,  the  Germans 
watched  him  from  the  mountains,  intent  upon  destroying 
him  in  the  same  defiles  in  which  Varus  had  fallen;  and 
when  he  entered  the  narrow  valleys,  whose  surrounding 
heights  afforded  ambush  for  the  enemy,  Armin  at  the  head 
of  a  small  troop  retreated  before  him,  until  the  whole  army 
had  entered  the  pass  and  was  hemmed  in  on  every  side. 
The  signal  was  given,  and  a  dreadful  slaughter  ensued 
[A.D.  16],  but  the  cautious  Romans,  though  defeated,  escaped 
annihilation  by  making  an  orderly  retreat  to  the  ships.  A 
part  of  the  army  that  had  been  dispatched  to  the  coasts  of 
Friesland  was  carried  away  by  a  flood  on  its  march,  and  the 
whole  narrowly  escaped  destruction.  Csecinna  fared  still 
worse,  being  overtaken  by  Armin  while  retreating  through 
the  country  by  the  long  bridges  leading  across  the  deep 
morasses  of  Munsterland,  which  were  fast  falling  to  decay ; 
and  yet,  although  surrounded  by  dangers  and  apparently  in- 
surmountable difficulties,  shut  up  in  a  narrow  dell l  through 
which  the  Germans  had  turned  the  course  of  a  mountain 
torrent,  and  defending  their  camp  while  the  water  rose  to 
their  knees  and  the  tempest  burst  furiously  over  their  heads, 
the  valiant  Romans  succeeded  in  cutting  their  way  through 
the  enemy,  and  in  escaping,  though  with  considerable  loss, 
to  the  Rhine.  The  winter  months  were  employed  by  the 
Germans  in  besieging  the  fort  of  Aliso,  but  without  success; 
and  in  the  following  year  [A.D.  17]  Germanicus  sailed  with 
a  thousand  ships  up  the  Ems,  and  landing  his  army  marched 
to  the  "Weser,  whose  opposite  banks  were  defended  by  the 
Germans.  On  reaching  the  river,  Flavius,  the  brother  of 

1  Probably  in  the  forest-dad  mountains  of  Caresf elt,  where  the  ancient  "bridges 
of  planks  commenced,  which  in  the  fourteenth  century  still  led  across  the  mo- 
rasses of  Munsterland,  in  the  country  round  Cologne,  and  were  still  called  "the 
long  bridges,"  as  in  the  time  of  Tacitus.  They  have  been  now  for  the  most 
part  replaced  by  dams. 


THE  WARS   WITH  THE   ROMANS  105 

Armin,  a  Roman  mercenary,  stepping  from  the  ranks,  ad- 
vanced to  the  riverside,  and  addressing  his  brother,  described 
in  glowing  terms  the  advantage  of  being  a  Roman  citizen, 
in  the  hope  of  inducing  him  to  desert  his  people ;  but  Armin, 
cursing  him  for  a  traitor,  attempted  to  cross  the  stream  with 
the  intention  of  killing  him,  but  was  withheld  by  his  follow- 
ers. The  Romans  now  prepared  for  battle,  and  Armin,  again 
retreating,  succeeded  in  surrounding  and  cutting  to  pieces 
the  Batavian  horsemen  in  the  Roman  service,  who  had  vent- 
ured too  far  in  pursuit.  The  next  day  the  whole  army  ad- 
vanced, but,  on  reaching  the  pass,  Germanicus  separated  the 
troops  and  pressed  forward  at  the  head  of  one  division,  leav- 
ing the  other  at  some  distance  to  the  rear,  and  the  Germans, 
rushing  from  their  ambuscade,  were  consequently  surrounded, 
and,  after  a  desperate  conflict,  entirely  routed.  This  victory 
was  recorded  by  Germanicus  on  a  magnificent  monument 
raised  on  the  spot,  although  his  loss  was  so  considerable  as 
to  oblige  him  to  fall  back  on  the  Ems.  Roused  to  frenzy 
at  the  sigbt  of  this  monument,  and  resolved  to  wipe  off  their 
shame,  tho  Germans  quickly  rallied  in  pursuit,  and  another 
battle  ensued,  so  obstinately  contested  that  night  alone  sepa- 
rated the  combatants,  and  the  slaughter  had  been  so  terrible 
that  when  day  broke  neither  army  was  able  to  renew  the 
fight,  and  Germanicus,  hastily  retreating  to  his  ships,  set 
sai?..  jJisascer  still  pursued  this  ill-fated  expedition ;  a  storm 
arose  in  which  most  of  the  vessels  were  wrecked,  and  when, 
shortly  after  this,  Germanicus  returned  to  Rome,  the  fort 
on  the  Taunus  was  the  only  one  throughout  Germany  in 
the  possession  of  the  Romans. 

XLIY.    Marbod 

WHILE  these  great  events  were  taking  place  in  the  north 
of  Germany,  the  south  did  r.  Dt  remain  quiet.  The  tribes  in 
the  lower  valleys  of  the  Danube  were  continually  at  feud, 
thus  rendering  it  easy  fcr  the  Romans  to  subdue,  one  by 
one,  those  belonging  to  the  Peucini,  in  the  same  manner  that 


106  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

Deldo,  king  of  the  Bastarnse,  was  overcome  by  Crassus ;  and 
Boirebistas,  the  exterminator  of  the  Boii,  the  powerful  ruler 
of  the  Getse  and  Daci,  was  defeated  by  Tiberius  and  Piso; 
on  which  account  he  was  murdered  by  his  subjects,  the 
Getse,  by  whom  he  had  made  himself  hated ;  but  who,  after 
this  event,  quarreling  among  themselves,  and  being  without 
a  leader,  fell  an  easy  prey  to  the  Romans.  It  was  about  this 
time,  when  Augustus  was  still  emperor  of  Rome,  that  the 
Suevian  confederacy,  from  which  the  Catti  first  separated 
themselves,  was  dissolved.  Armin  had,  it  is  true,  united 
the  Frankish  and  Saxon  tribes  of  Northern  Germany  in  a 
temporary  defensive  alliance,  and  they  carefully  guarded 
the  Rhine;  but. when  the  kingdom  of  the  Getse  fell,  as  well 
as  the  Suevian  confederacy,  the  Danube  seemed  no  longer 
tenable.  It  naturally  followed  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
exposed  districts  on  the  southern  frontier  voluntarily  united 
under  one  leader,  who  was  intrusted  with  great  authority, 
in  order  to  give  unity  and  strength  to  their  councils,  the 
Romans  having  taught  them  of  what  importance  it  was  to 
keep  together  in  the  fight,  and  to  obey  one  commander. 
Marbod,  who,  like  Armin,  had  passed  his  youth  among  the 
Romans,  united  the  remaining  Suevi  of  Upper  Germany, 
the  Boii,  and  all  the  petty  southern  frontier  tribes,  and  led 
them  far  from  the  vicinity  of  the  Romans  into  Bohemia,  a 
beautiful,  fertile  country,  surrounded  by  a  natural  rampart 
of  mountains,  where  he  was  joined  by  the  Getae,  who  had 
fled  from  the  East,  and  who  aided  him  to  subdue  his  Suevian 
neighbors  on  the  Maine  and  the  Saal,  who  had  refused  to 
league  either  with  him  or  Armin.  His  people,  collected 
from  so  many  different  Sue  vie  and  Gothic  tribes,  received 
the  appellation  of  Marcomanni  (mark  or  boundary),  and  he 
possessed  the  same  power  over  them  that  was  enjoyed  by 
the  Margraves  of  later  times,  that  of  commander-in-chief, 
with  unlimited  authority.  He  maintained  a  standing  army 
of  70,000  foot  and  4,000  horse,  exclusive  of  the  armed  popu- 
lation. He  had  also  a  fortified  castle  in  the  interior  of  the 
country.  The  Romans  beheld  this  newly-erected  power  with 


THE  WARS   WITH  THE  ROMANS  107 

apprehension,  and  Tiberius  marched  against  it  at  the  head 
of  a  formidable  army ;  but  on  his  way,  hearing  of  the  revolt 
of  the  Pannonians,  he  hastily  concluded  peace  with  Marbod, 
who,  more  intent  on  his  own  aggrandizement  than  concerned 
for  the  liberties  of  the  people,  abandoned  his  neighbors. 
Commanded  by  Pinnes  and  Bato,  they  defended  themselves, 
with  the  courage  of  despair,  against  200,000  Roman  troops, 
until  Bato,  seduced  by  Tiberius,  betrayed  Pinnes,  but  not 
long  after  again  opposed  the  Romans,  and  a  second  time, 
yielding,  the  people  shared  the  fate  of  the  Taurisci,  in  the 
Tyrol.  At  Arduba,  the  women  flung  themselves  and  their 
children  into  the  .burning  houses,  and  into  the  river,  rather 
than  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  These  horrors,  and 
the  heroic  struggles  of  Armin,  were  beheld  unmoved  by 
Marbod,  who  now  openly  manifested  his  intention  of  ally- 
ing himself  with  the  Romans,  by  whose  assistance  he  hoped 
to  usurp  supreme  authority  in  Germany.  In  order  to  re- 
mind him  of  his  duty,  Armin  had  presented  him  with  the 
head  of  Varus,  as  a  mark  of  honor,  but  Marbod  sent  it  with 
a  condoling  message  to  the  emperor  Augustus.  The  Lower 
Germans  were  imbittered  against  him  by  his  want  of  sym- 
pathy in  the  cause  of  liberty,  while  his  very  name  was  de- 
tested by  the  other  tribes,  over  whom,  not  content  with  rul- 
ing despotically  over  the  Marcomanni,  he  attempted  to  extend 
his  dominion,  and,  consequently,  he  no  sooner  attacked  the 
Senones  and  Longobardi,  than  the  tribes  of  Lower  Germany 
flew  to  their  aid,  and  a  powerful  league,  headed  by  Armin, 
was  formed  against  him.  Both  sides  assembled  all  their 
forces,  and  a  great  battle  ensued,  in  which  almost  all  the 
German  tribes  took  part.  Armin  gained  a  complete  victory, 
and  Marbod,  retreating  to  Bohemia,  sent  to  Rome  for  assist- 
ance; but  becoming  intolerable  to  his  own  subjects,  who 
elected  the  Goth,  Catualda,  for  their  king,  he  escaped  across 
the  Danube,  and  lived  for  eighteen  years  on  the  bounty  of 
the  Romans. 


108  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 


XLV.   The  Death  of  Armin 

THUS  Armin  had  saved  his  country  from  internal  as  well 
as  external  danger.  For  ten  years  he  had  been  general-in- 
chief  of  the  people,  and  his  fame  had  spread  throughout  the 
whole  of  Germany ;  but  as  actions  like  his,  before  him  un- 
known among  the  Germans,  were  the  offspring  of  extraor- 
dinary circumstances,  his  fame  naturally  decreased  in  time 
of  peace,  and  it  became  easy  for  those  who  envied  his  honors 
to  instill  the  suspicion  that  he  aimed  at  sovereignty  into  the 
minds  of  a  people  so  jealous  of  its  freedom,  a  suspicion 
strengthened  by  the  example  of  Marbod,  which  served  as 
a  pretext  to  his  enemies ;  and,  at  length,  his  own  relations, 
who  were  most  strongly  influenced  by  envy,  conspired  against 
and  murdered  him,  A.D.  21.  From  this  moment  the  Ger- 
mans no  longer  acted  with  unity,  a  circumstance  of  which 
the  Romans,  anxious  to  preserve  peace  on  their  northern 
frontier,  did  not  take  advantage.  In  the  same  year  in  which 
A  rmin  was  murdered,  the  Treveri,  headed  by  Florus,  re- 
volted ;  but  the  attempt  failed,  owing  to  their  want  of  unity. 
Some  years  later,  A.D.  28,  the  Frisii  shook  off  the  Roman 
yoke.  The  friendly  manner  in  which  this  simple-minded 
people  had  received  the  Romans  had  been  ill-requited ;  they 
were  treated  as  a  conquered  nation,  and  a  tribute  of  ox-hides 
imposed  upon  them,  which  was  endured  until  Olennius  be- 
came prefect  of  the  Rhine,  and  in  the  insolence  of  power 
demanded  not  only  common  hides,  but  also  those  of  the 
buffalo,  rare  in  Friesland,  and  moreover  placed  a  strong 
garrison  in  the  country,  in  order  to  enforce  payment.  The 
wretched  people  were  consequently  forced  to  sell  all  they 
possessed — houses,  slaves,  cattle,  and  even  their  children, 
in  order  to  procure  the  hides  in  sufficient  quantities  from 
the  neighboring  nations.  At  length,  rendered  desperate  by 
necessity  and  suffering,  they  suddenly  rose  en  masse,  and 
drove  the  Romans  out  of  their  country;  an  exploit  which, 
for  the  first  time,  made  their  name  famous  in  history.  Their 


THE  WARS   WITH  THE   ROMANS  109 

country  retained  its  freedom,  the  Romans  taking  no  revenge, 
probably  because  the  conquest  of  these  poor  people  would 
not  have  repaid  the  expense  and  danger  of  the  war.  Not 
long  after  this,  the  Caninefati  revolted,  but  without  success. 
The  Cherusci  were  ruined  by  internal  dissensions.  The  faith- 
less relations  of  Armin  attempted  to  introduce  the  Roman 
customs,  and  to  usurp  the  whole  authority,  but  were  resisted 
by  the  people,  A.D  47.  The  sen.  of  Flavius,  surnamed  Itali- 
cus,  on  account  of  his  having  been  born  and  bred  in  Italy, 
was  chosen  king,  but  made  himself  so  disliked  by  his  Roman 
manners  that  he  was  deposed;  but,  aided  by  the  Longobardi, 
he  regained  his  throne,  and  the  people  gradually  lost  their 
ancient  power  and  love  of  honor.  The  Catti  made  continual 
excursions  across  the  Rhine,  A,D.  50,  until,  rendered  care- 
less by  sts  "/cess,  they  were  attacked  and  cut  to  pieces  by  the 
Romans,  when  in  a  state  of  irtoxication.  In  the  same  year, 
Agrippina,  the  daughter  of  Germanicus,  led  a  great  Roman 
colony  to  the  Rhine,  and  erected  an  important  fortress  on  the 
frontier,  called,  after  her,  Colonia  Agrippina — now  Cologne. 

On  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine,  between  the  Roman  and 
German  frontier,  was  a  narrow  tract  of  country,  which  had 
long  remained  uninhabited,  partly  on  account  of  the  migra- 
tions, and  partly  on  account  of  the  wars.  The  Friedlanders, 
whose  population,  as  has  ever  been  the  case  in  Germany, 
was  too  redundant  for  the  land,  coveted  the  possession  of 
this  empty  tract,  and,  in  order  to  negotiate  the  matter,  sent 
Veritus  and  Malorix,  two  of  their  chief  men,  to  Rome,  where 
they  were  well  received.  The  magnificence  of  the  capital 
of  the  world  did  not  tame  the  free  and  haughty  spirit  in- 
spired by  their  forest  homes.  When,  in  the  theater,  the  seat 
of  honor  was  not  assigned  to  them,  they  took  possession  of 
it,  saying,  "The  German  nation  is  the  bravest  hi  the  world, 
and  therefore  the  highest  honors  are  its  due. "  Their  request 
was  refused. 

The  petty  tribe  of  the  Ampsibari,  driven  out  by  the  Catti 
(who  gradually  sought  to  extend  their  limits),  wandered  along 
the  Rhine,  and  begged  land  of  the  Romans.  Their  request 


110  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

met  with  a  haughty  refusal ;  and  when  rich  possessions  were 
offered  to  Boiocal,  their  chief,  who  had  served  in  the  impe- 
rial army,  he  nobly  refused  them,  and,  swearing  to  remain 
true  to  his  people,  exclaimed,  "We  may  want  land  on  which 
to  live,  but  it  is  never  wanting  for  those  who  die."  He  re- 
turned with  his  tribe  to  Germany,  where,  being  everywhere 
rejected,  part  of  it  dispersed  among  different  nations,  and 
the  rest  fell  victims  to  hunger  and  misery.  Soon  after  this, 
a  great  war  broke  out  between  the  Catti  and  the  Hermun- 
duri,  who  disputed  the  possession  of  the  salt-springs  of  the 
Saal,  even  at  that  period  held  in  great  estimation.  The 
Hermunduri  were  victorious  in  a  pitched  battle,  and  sacri- 
ficed all  their  prisoners  to  the  gods.  During  this  year, 
A.D.  58,  a  great  subterranean  fire  broke  out  jn  the  banks 
of  the  Rhine,  with  which  the  layers  of  peat  found  there  may 
perhaps  have  some  connection.  After  the  death  of  Nero, 
the  Roman  tyrant,  who  paid  very  little  attention  to  Ger- 
many, several  Roman  generals  strove  for  empire.  Vitellius, 
who  commanded  in  Cologne,  was  the  first  who  made  use  of 
the  Germans  when  attempting  to  seize  the  imperial  crown. 
He  favored  them  so  much  as  to  allow  them,  when  enrolled 
beneath  his  standard,  to  wear  the  costume  of  their  country. 
After  causing  himself  to  be  proclaimed  emperor  in  Cologne, 
he  marched  to  Rome,  where  the  appearance  of  his  warriors 
created  great  astonishment.  He  always  carried  about  with 
him  a  German  prophetess,  whose  predictions  were  to  warn 
him  of  future  events.  An  unsuccessful  speculation,  as  he 
was  murdered.  Vespasian  became  emperor.  His  son,  Titus, 
when  subduing  Judea,  had  also  Germans  in  his  army,  whom 
he  praised  highly,  saying  "that  their  souls  were  even  greater 
than  their  bodies."  But  there  still  were  noble  hearts  that 
throbbed  with  indignation  at  the  baseness  of  their  free-born 
countrymen,  in  thus  "selling  themselves  to  the  destroyers  of 
their  fatherland. 


THE  WARS    WITH  THE   ROMANS  111 


XLYI.   Civilis  and  Velleda 

THERE  lived  a  young  man  among  the  Batavians  who 
was  called  by  the  Romans  Civilis,  or  the  friend  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  who  had  lost  an  eye  in  their  service.  Becoming 
suspected  on  account  of  his  love  of  freedom,  he  was  thrown 
into  prison,  together  with  his  brothers,  who  were  shortly 
afterward  beheaded.  On  his  restoration  to  liberty,  he  swore 
eternal  enmity  against  his  oppressors,  and  vowed,  according 
to  the  custom  of  his  country,  not  to  trim  his  beard  or  head 
until  he  had  taken  ample  vengeance  on  them.  Finding  that 
his  fellow  countrymen  groaned  secretly  beneath  the  Roman 
yoke,  which  unity  and  energy  on  their  part  might  easily  cast 
off,  he  appeared  among  them  during  a  sacred  feast  at  mid- 
night in  a  forest,  and  with  enthusiastic  eloquence  excited 
them  to  open  revolt.  The  standard  of  rebellion  was  raised, 
and  the  Romans  were  simultaneously  murdered  throughout 
the  country ;  an  example  that  was  quickly  followed  by  the 
Caninefati  and  Frisii.  Victory  followed  victory,  and  one 
by  one  every  Belgian  tribe,  even  the  Treviri,  encouraged 
by  the  success  of  their  neighbors,  joined  in  driving  out  the 
common  enemy,  or  hi  besieging  him  in  his  strongholds.  The 
Germans  also  in  the  imperial  service  deserted  in  troops  to 
the  friends  of  liberty.  The  country  of  the  Ubii  was  com- 
pletely laid  waste,  and  the  most  fearful  vengeance  was 
wreaked  upon  all  who  had  been  faithless  to  their  father- 
land ;  the  city  of  Cologne,  which  submitted  to  the  conquer- 
ors, being  alone  spared,  A.D.  69. 

At  this  period,  Vitellius  and  Vespasian  were  battling  for 
empire,  and  consequently  the  whole  strength  of  the  Romans 
could  not  be  poured  upon  Belgium,  where  the  cause  of  free- 
dom speedily  progressed ;  and  although  the  fortress  of  Vetera 
(Zante)  was  unsuccessfully  besieged  during  the  whole  of  the 
winter,  the  affairs  of  the  allies  prospered,1  and  several  other 

1  The  exact  site  is  uncertain,  but  with  great  probability  is  placed,  by  Ledebur, 
on  the  Velsberg  ("Wellsaup)  near  Flaersheim. 


THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

German  tribes  evinced  a  disposition  to  make  common  cause 
with  Civilis,  while  Velleda,  a  maiden  prophetess  who  dwelt 
in  a  lonely  tower  in  the  Bructerian  forest,  and  was  regarded 
with  veneration  throughout  Germany,  announced  victory  to 
her  people  and  destruction  to  the  Romans.  The  most  valu- 
able part  of  the  booty  was  always  sent  to  her  in  sign  of 
honor,  and  she  became  as  it  were  the  inspiring  genius  of  the 
Germans  in  their  struggle  for  freedom.  The  Gauls  also 
seized  this  opportunity  to  cast  off  the  chain,  and  united  their 
forces  with  those  of  the  Belgse,  who,  unluckily  for  their 
cause,  were  persuaded  by  their  new  confederates  to  found 
a  great  Gallic  empire,  which  excited  the  jealousy  of  the 
Germans  on  the  other  side  of  the  Rhine,  and  cooled  their 
zeal,  while  the  steady  alliance  of  the  Gauls  could  not  be 
counted  upon,  although  for  the  present  everything  pros- 
pered, and  the  flag  of  liberty  ere  long  floated  on  the  Alps, 
and  the  Roman  arms  again  suffered  defeat  in  Helvetia. 

The  following  year,  A.D.  70,  affairs  took  a  different  turn, 
Vespasian  overcame  Yitellius,  and  civil  dissension  ceased. 
Cerealis,  a  veteran  general,  whose  name  struck  the  Ger- 
mans with  terror,  was  dispatched  into  Gaul  at  the  head  of 
a  powerful  army,  and,  on  reaching  Treves,  easily  subdued 
the  Gauls,  who  abandoned  Civilis;  while  the  people  of  Co- 
logne murdered  all  the  Germans  who  were  in  their  city, 
and  delivered  up  to  him  the  wife  and  child  of  Civilis,  who 
had  been  intrusted  to  their  care.  Notwithstanding  these 
disasters,  the  Belgae  were  not  yet  disheartened,  and  in  the 
first  battle  drove  the  enemy  from  the  field.  Another  fol- 
lowed, in  which  so  many  of  the  Germans  went  over  to  the 
Romans  that  Civilis  was  forced  to  retreat,  and  throwing  him- 
self into  the  Batavian  islands,  opened  the  canals,  and  caused 
a  great  inundation,  by  means  of  which  he  long  bade  defiance 
to  the  enemy;  but  finding  opposition  unavailing,  and  honor- 
able conditions  being  offered,  he  at  length  concluded  peace. 
His  name  was  honored  by  both  friends  and  enemies.  Ac- 
cording to  a  short  account  by  Statius,  Velleda  was  taken 
prisoner  by  the  Romans. 


THE  WARS  WITH  THE  ROMANS         113 


XLVII.   Internal  Dissensions  Among  the  Germans 

THESE  disturbances  were  followed  by  a  long  peace  on  the 
frontier.  In  the  interior  of  Germany  feuds  broke  out  be- 
tween the  brother  tribes,  which  afforded  a  delectable  spec- 
tacle to  the  Romans.  The  Catti  fell  upon  the  Cherusci,  and 
drove  king  Chariomer  from  the  throne.  There  were  also 
disturbances  among  the  Suevi,  and  Masyus,  a  king  of  the 
Semnones,  and  the  prophetess  Ganna,  who  was  almost  as 
famous  as  Velleda,  fled  to  Rome,  where  they  were  honora- 
bly received.  Tacitus  mentions  the  extermination  of  60,000 
Bructeri  by  their  neighbors  the  Chamavri  and  the  Angrivarii, 
while  the  rest  of  the  Germans  looked  on  with  indifference, 
as  a  late  and  very  remarkable  event,  and  concludes  his  ac- 
count with  this  exclamation,  "May  dissension  ever  reign 
among  the  Germans,  and  thus  prevent  the  danger  with 
which  they  threaten  Rome!"  Similar  disturbances,  occa- 
sioned by  military  despotism  and  the  discordant  Gothic  and 
Suevic  tribes  who  composed  the  nation,  prevailed  in  the 
kingdom  of  the  Marcomanni.  The  Goths,  under  Catualda, 
the  successor  of  Marbod,  oppressed  the  Suevi,  who,  rebelling, 
drove  them  out  and  elected  Vibilius,  one  of  the  Hermunduri, 
for  their  king.  Catualda  went  over  to  the  Romans,  and  as- 
sembled a  great  number  of  his  adherents,  to  whom  the  Quadi, 
dwelling  in  Moravia  behind  the  Daci,  associated  themselves, 
who  were  allowed  to  settle  in  Pannonia,  which  lay  waste 
and  uninhabited,  on  condition  of  aiding  the  Romans  against 
their  countrymen.  Thus  the  new  kingdom  of  the  Quadi,  on 
the  right  bank  of  the  Danube,  served  as  a  guard  against  that 
of  the  Marcomanni,  on  the  opposite  bank.  Catualda  was 
succeeded  by  Vannius,  who,  evincing  an  inclination  to  make 
terms  with  the  Marcomanni,  was,  at  the  instigation  of  the 
Romans,  seized  by  his  own  nephews,  Sido  and  Wangio,  who 
were  assisted  by  the  Jazyges,  the  first  Slavonian  tribe  that 
crossed  the^Danube.  Roman  policy  triumphed.  The  united 


114  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

Marcomanni  and  Quadi  were  beaten,  Sido  was  rewarded 
with  the  throne  of  Vibilius,  and  "Wangio  with  that  of  Van- 
nius,  for  their  devotion  to  the  interests  of  Rome.  But  the 
hatred  of  the  Roman  rule  was  deeply  rooted  among  the  Ger- 
mans, and  their  friendship  was  more  apparent  than  perma- 
nent. No  sooner  was  one  nation  subdued,  or  gained  over  by 
the  enemy,  than  another  instantly  rose  to  renew  the  struggle 
for  the  glory  and  liberty  of  their  fatherland. 

XLVIII.    Dezebal 

THE  ancient  Dacian-Getic  kingdom,  which  had  been  dis- 
solved after  the  murder  of  Boirebistas,  again  rose.  The 
king,  Durias,  voluntarily  abdicated  hi  favor  of  Dezebal,  a 
brave  and  intelligent  man,  his  superior  in  the  art  of  govern- 
ment, who  speedily  united  all  the  tribes,  known  earlier  under 
the  general  name  of  the  Peucini,  beneath  his  command. 
Apprehensive  of  the  event,  the  emperor  Domitian  sent  Sa- 
binus  with  a  numerous  army  across  the  Danube,  which  was 
annihilated  by  Dezebal,  and  the  emperor,  marching  against 
him  in  person,  was  also  beaten,  A.D.  89.  The  Marcomanni 
and  Quadi,  ashamed  of  assisting  the  Romans  against  their 
brethren,  had,  meanwhile,  preserved  a  strict  neutrality,  and 
Domitian,  imagining  that  he  could  subdue  them  more  easily 
than  the  Daci,  put  their  embassadors  to  death,  and  invaded 
their  country;  but,  emboldened  by  the  example  of  Dezebal, 
they  offered  him  battle.  A  complete  victory  was  gained, 
which  at  once  put  an  end  to  their  base  alliance  with  the  Ro- 
mans, and,  uniting  their  forces  to  those  of  the  Daci,  they 
became  so  formidable  that  Domitian  sued  for  peace,  and 
agreed  to  pay  Dezebal  a  heavy  annual  tribute,  A.D.  90. 
The  weak  Nerva  succeeded  Domitian,  and  Dezebal  remained 
In  undisturbed  tranquillity  until  the  accession  of  the  warlike 
Trajan,  when  war  once  more  broke  out.  Trajan,  judging  it 
to  be  as  dishonorable  to  allow  the  discomfiture  of  the  Roman 
arms  in  Dacia  to  remain  unrevenged  as  it  was  impolitic  to 
tolerate  so  enterprising  a  neighbor,  refused  to  pay  the  trib- 


THE  WARS   WITH  THE   ROMANS  115 

ute,  A.D.  100,  and  marching  at  the  head  of  a  strong  army 
against  the  Dacians,  conducted  the  war  with  such  skill  and 
energy  that  Dezebal  was  finally  overcome  and  forced  to 
conclude  a  shameful  peace,  A.D.  103.  Filled  with  mortifi- 
cation at  his  defeat,  and  with  fears  for  his  country,  he  once 
more  attempted  to  arm  the  neighboring  tribes  against  Rome, 
setting  before  them  the  danger  to  which  they  were  exposed, 
unless  they  united  against  their  common  enemy.  His  en- 
treaties were  vain,  and  he  was  forced  to  stem  the  torrent 
unassisted  and  alone,  A.D.  106.  A  long  and  obstinate  strug- 
gle ensued,  and  at  length,  completely  defeated  and  driven  to 
desperation,  he  killed  himself,  after  making  a  vain  attempt 
to  poison  the  emperor.  His  treasures,  which  had  been  se- 
cretly buried  in  the  bed  of  the  river  Sargetia,  were  betrayed 
to  Trajan,  who  took  possession  of  them,  and  Dacia  became  a 
Roman  province.  A  stone  bridge,  the  wonder  of  the  times, 
was  thrown  across  the  Danube,  in  this  part  of  immense 
width,  and  records,  together  with  the  bas-reliefs  of  the  beau- 
tiful column  still  preserved  at  Rome,  the  name  and  warlike 
deeds  of  Trajan. 

XLIX.   Roman  Provinces  on  the  Rhine  and  Danube 

HADRIAN,  the  prudent  and  pacific  successor  of  the  war- 
like Trajan,  followed  the  plan  commenced  by  Caesar,  and 
continued  to  Romanize  the  provinces  lying  on  the  frontiers  of 
Germany,  besides  completing  their  defense,  by  erecting  for- 
tifications along  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  and  the  right 
bank  of  the  Danube,  virtually  surrounding  that  frontier  of 
the  empire  with  a  chain  of  castles.  At  the  most  important 
points,  strongly  fortified  encampments,  garrisoned  by  Roman 
legions,  connected  by  straight,  high,  damlike  roads,  and  pro- 
vided with  watch-towers  overlooking  the  distant  country, 
were  constructed.  The  Rhine  and  the  Danube  generally 
marked  the  boundary.  Their  banks  were  thickly  studded 
with  castles  and  fortified  towns,  and  their  streams  were  trav- 
ersed by  bridges,  the  remains  of  which  may  still  be  seen  at 


116  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

Cologne  and  Mayence,  besides  the  ruins  of  the  one  already 
mentioned,  built  by  Trajan  over  the  Danube. 

The  Romans  had  thus  already  crossed  both  rivers,  and 
had  built  two  gigantic  tetes-de-pont  to  bar  the  further  prog- 
ress of  the  Germans.  After  the  expulsion  of  the  Dacians, 
Trajan  and  Hadrian  led  powerful  colonies  into  Maesia  (mod- 
ern Moldavia  and  Wallachia),  in  order  to  repeople  that  coun- 
try with  Romans,  and  to  prevent  the  Germans  from  cross- 
ing at  the  point  where  the  Danube  falls  into  the  Black  Sea. 
The  corner  where  the  Black  Forest  penetrates  into  Basil 
was  a  still  more  important  position,  on  account  of  the  obsti- 
nacy with  which  the  Germans  defended  the  mountains  be- 
tween the  Danube  and  the  Rhine,  which  at  once  hindered 
the  junction  of  the  Romans,  and  rendered  them  liable  to 
surprise  on  either  side.  Neither  labor  nor  expense  were 
therefore  spared  in  erecting  the  fortifications  of  the  Black 
Forest,  which  were  completed  by  Hadrian,  who  built  a  great 
wall  that  extended  from  Pfarring  on  the  Danube  to  Mitten- 
berg  on  the  Maine,  and  is  now  known  as  the  Teufelsmauer, 
the  Heidenmauer,  or  the  Pfahlgraben.  It  appears  to  have 
been  completely  fortified,  and  to  have  defended  the  whole  of 
the  country  lying  to  its  rear.  The  roads  of  communication 
between  the  forts  were  carried  along  the  edge  of  the  moun- 
tains, instead  of  running  through  the  valleys,  in  order  to  se- 
cure the  garrisons  against  ambush  or  sudden  attacks  in  their 
route  through  the  forests.  Modern  tacticians  have  been 
struck  by  the  astonishing  science  displayed  by  the  Romans 
in  their  choice  of  positions  for  encampments,  and  lines  for 
mountain  military  roads,  etc.  German  liberty  could  not 
possibly  exist  within  reach  of  these  fortresses,  and  the  whole 
frontier  lay  waste  and  desolate,  until  by  slow  degrees  re- 
peopled  and  cultivated  by  Roman  colonists,  or  by  poor  Ger- 
man fugitives  and  deserters.  These  lands  were  called  agri 
decumates;  it  is  uncertain  whether  on  account  of  a  tenth 
paid  by  the  cultivator,  or  from  a  Roman  measure  for  mark- 
ing out  the  fields,  or  from  the  usual  plan  of  recruiting  among 
the  peasantry.  When  the  emperor  Henry  the  First  raised 


THE  WARS   WITH  THE   ROMANS  117 

the  first  fortresses  in  Germany,  one  out  of  every  ten  peasants 
was  chosen  to  form  the  garrison  of  the  fort,  whom  the  rest 
were  obliged  to  maintain  by  their  labor ;  and  it  seems  prob- 
able that  these  agri  were,  in  like  manner,  intended  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  Roman  garrisons. 

As  countless  legions  were  continually  quartered  on  the 
frontiers,  the  conquered  tribes  soon  adopted  the  language, 
customs,  and  luxurious  manners  of  their  masters,  and  a 
number  of  Roman  towns  were  either  built  behind  the  forts, 
or  the  latter  gradually  swelled  into  cities.  All  the  large 
cities  on  both  sides  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube  were  origi- 
nally Roman ;  the  most  considerable  of  which  was  Treves, 
the  capital  of  the  whole  of  the  northern  province,  celebrated 
for  its  magnificent  temples,  palaces,  amphitheaters,  etc.,  the 
ruins  of  which  still  exist.  The  remains  of  an  immense  aque- 
duct are  still  to  be  seen  at  Mayence.  Besides  these,  but  few 
traces  of  the  ancient  splendor  of  the  Roman  cities  are  now 
visible  above  ground,  but  enormous  foundations  of  walls, 
mosaics,  single  statues,  and  quantities  of  coins  have  been 
discovered  beneath  its  surface.  Numbers  of  old  Roman 
towers,  easily  distinguishable  by  their  stones,  which  exactly 
measure  a  Roman  foot,  still  remain,  and  possibly  owe  their 
preservation  to  their  inutility.  They  were  formerly  single 
watch  towers,  around  which,  in  later  times,  towns  and  cities 
sprang  up. 

The  whole  of  the  conquered  country  was  placed  under 
the  Roman  form  of  government.  The  proconsul  had  unlim- 
ited power  and  authority  in  the  province,  and  was  ordinarily 
a  general,  on  account  of  the  continual  war  with  the  Germans. 
The  government  was,  consequently,  completely  military,  and 
as  the  regulations  merely  referred  to  the  maintenance  and 
recruiting  of  the  legions,  the  civilization  introduced  by  the 
Romans  simply  extended  to  the  economy  of  the  barracks  and 
markets.  During  peace,  the  levying  continued;  the  feuds 
between  the  German  tribes,  idleness,  and  curiosity,  always 
sending  a  crowd  of  fugitives  or  adventurers  to  the  frontiers, 
who  entered  into  the  Roman  service  and  formed  its  bravest 


118  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

legions.  Many  of  these  deserters  were  attracted  by  the  van- 
ity of  affecting  Roman  customs,  which  led  them  to  despise 
their  native  simplicity;  others,  by  the  hope  of  revenging 
themselves  on  their  former  foes  in  Germany ;  but  by  far  the 
greater  number  were  instigated  by  mere  love  of  fighting, 
while  all  seemed  alike  unaware  of  the  guilt  they  incurred  by 
aiding  the  stranger  to  lay  their  country  desolate.  The  divis- 
ion of  the  Roman  frontier  provinces  was  as  follows : 

The  right  bank  of  the  Danube  was  divided  into  four 
provinces:  First,  Rhastia,  which  extended  from  the  sources 
of  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube  to  Salzburg  and  Ratisbon. 
The  capital  of  this  great  province,  which  was  connected 
with  Italy  by  the  Alpine  passes,  and  with  Helvetia  and 
Gaul  by  military  roads,  was  Augusta  Vindelicorum,  now 
Augsburg.  The  other  considerable  towns  were,  Brigan- 
tium,  now  Bregenz,  on  the  Bodenese;  Campodunum,  now 
Kernpten;  Regina  Castra,  now  Ratisbon,  etc.  At  a  later 
period,  this  province  was  divided  into  Upper  Rhaetia,  the 
Alps,  and  Vindelicia,  the  country  of  the  Lower  Danube. 
Second,  Noricum,  to  the  east  of  Rhsetia,  with  the  cities 
Juvavia,  Salzburg;  Lintia,  Linz;  Celeja,  Cilly,  etc.  Third, 
Pannonia,  which  extended  from  the  Ems  in  the  direction 
of  Hungary,  where  lay  Vindobona  or  Juliobona,  Vienna. 
Fourth,  Msesia,  which  stretched  as  far  as  the  mouths  of  the 
Danube,  and  formed  throughout  its  whole  extent  the  line  of 
boundary  between  the  Roman  empire  and  Germany. 

The  left  bank  of  the  Rhine  was  also  divided  into  four 
provinces:  First,  Helvetia,  now  Switzerland.  Here  were 
built  two  magnificent  cities,  Vindonissa  (the  bridge  on  the 
Aar)  and  Aventicum,  "Wiflisburg,  or  Avenche;  Augusta 
Rauracorum,  Basil.  Second,  Germania  Prima,  on  the  Upper 
Rhine,  with  its  capital  Moguntia,  Mayence;  Argentoratum, 
Strasburg;  Tabernse,  Rheinzabern;  Nojomagus,  Spires;  Bor- 
betomagus,  "Worms,  etc.  Third,  Germania  Secunda,  on  the 
Lower  Rhine,  with  its  capital,  Colonia  Agrippinse,  Cologne; 
and  Confluentia,  Coblentz ;  Bonna,  Bonn;  Juliacum,  Juliers; 
Aquae,  Aix-la-Chapelle,  etc.;  Bacharach  has  been  derived 


THE  MIGRATIONS  119 

from  Bacchi  ara,  a  stone  used  as  an  altar  to  the  Rhenish 
Bacchus.  Fourth,  Belgica,  with  its  capital,  Augusta  Tre- 
virorum,  Treves;  and  many  cities  whose  French  names  still 
betray  their  Latin  origin,  viz.,  Soissons,  Augusta  Suessio- 
num;  Vermandois,  Augusta  Verumanduorum ;  Cambray, 
Cameracum,  etc.  A  catalogue  of  the  roads  raised  by  the 
Romans  in  Germany  during  the  earlier  part  of  the  third 
century,  now  known  as  the  Peutinger  Table,  has  been  dis- 
covered. 


PART   III 
THE   MIGRATIONS 

L.    Revolt  of  the  whole  German  Nation  against  Rome 

THE  conquest  of  Dacia  turned  the  scale  in  the  great 
struggle  between  the  two  nations,  and  victory  quitted 
the  standards  of  Rome  for  those  of  Germany.  A 
whole  century  had  passed  since  the  destruction  of  Velleda, 
marked,  on  the  western  frontier,  by  no  occurrences  of  more 
importance  than  a  few  inconsiderable  incursions.  The  Da- 
cian  war  had  scarcely  affected  the  southern  frontier.  In 
the  far  interior  of  Germany  no  Roman  army  had  again  pen- 
etrated, and  the  Germans,  rapidly  increasing  in  number, 
quickly  regained  their  diminished  strength.  Rome,  mean- 
while, was  fast  falling  to  decay.  The  mighty  empire  tot- 
tered beneath  its  own  weight.  The  union  of  the  numerous 
and  various  countries  and  nations  of  which  it  was  composed 
could  only  be  effected  by  the  despotic  extirpation  of  their 
national  characteristics,  their  courage  and  their  worth.  En- 
slaved by  luxury,  and  demoralized  by  a  despotism  based  on 
the  degradation  of  the  people,  these  degenerate  nations  hence- 
forward supplied  weak  and  worthless  troops,  who,  although 
superior  in  numbers  and  discipline,  vainly  sought  to  cope 


120  THE  HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

with  the  personal  strength  of  their  intrepid  opponents,  or  to 
protect  the  sinking  empire. 

To  the  increasing  population  of  Germany,  and  the  grow- 
ing corruption  of  Rome,  may  be  ascribed  the  great  events 
which  took  place  during  the  second  century  after  Christ, 
when  a  sudden  and  terrific  irruption  burst  like  a  torrent 
from  the  interior  of  Germany,  drawing  after  it  fresh  and 
countless  hordes,  before  whose  irresistible  might  Rome  was 
at  length  forced  to  yield.  This  sudden  irruption  of  the  Ger- 
man nations  was  undoubtedly,  like  that  of  the  Cimbri  and 
Teutones,  caused  by  movements  in  the  north.  The  first  im- 
pulse was  apparently  given  by  the  Goths  on  the  Baltic,  whose 
descendants,  at  a  later  period,  boasted  of  having  gone,  under 
the  command  of  Berig,  from  the  island  of  Skanzia  (Schonen, 
the  southern  promontory  of  Sweden)  to  the  south.  But  these 
northern  Goths  could  not  have  been  very  numerous,  and  the 
enormous  masses  that  poured  in  every  direction  across  the 
Danube  and  the  Rhine  into  the  Roman  provinces  must  have 
issued  from  the  whole  breadth  and  width  of  Germany,  while 
a  very  small  portion  could  have  come  from  the  north. 

It  is  a  circumstance  of  much  greater  importance,  that 
from  this  period  the  countless  minor  tribes  disappear,  and 
are  replaced  by  the  great  German  nations,  the  Franks,  Ale- 
manni,  Saxons,  and  Goths,  which  could  as  easily  have 
sprung  from  the  air,  as  from  the  cold  and  impoverished 
north,  and  are  the  identical  nations  which,  a  century  earlier, 
inhabited  the  countries  already  mentioned.  During  the  long 
peace,  they  had  increased  in  numbers,  and  had  become  more 
civilized  in  their  form  of  government,  their  laws,  and  their 
religion;  and,  after  a  long  silence,  are  again  mentioned  in 
history  as  the  same,  but  a  more  polished,  people.  All  the 
tribes  of  the  Lower  Rhine  were  gradually  known  only  as 
the  Catti  and  the  Sicambri ;  all  those  on  the  Northern  Ocean, 
as  the  Frisii,  Chauci,  and  Angli ;  all  those  of  Southern  Ger- 
many, as  the  Alemanni  and  Bojoarii;  all  those  of  Central 
Germany,  as  the  Hermunduri,  Longobardi,  and  Burgundi- 
ans;  all  those  of  Eastern  Germany,  as  the  Goths,  Gepidse, 


THE  MIGRATIONS  1X1 

and  Vandali.  The  Franks  and  Saxons  soon  afterward  ap- 
pear in  the  place  of  the  Sicambri  and  Chauci ;  and  all  these 
changes  prove,  that  the  small  districts,  formerly  separate 
from  and  independent  of  each  other,  had  everywhere  united, 
and  had  formed  into  large  communities.  For  instance,  it 
would  not  have  been  possible  for  the  great  nation  of  the 
Franks  to  have  sprung  from  the  Sicambri  alone.  A  union 
of  all  the  numerous  minor  tribes  in  the  neighborhood,  men- 
tioned at  an  earlier  period,  but  whose  names  have  since  dis- 
appeared, must  first  have  taken  place.  The  cause  of  this 
alliance  is  extremely  obscure,  but  may  have  been  induced 
by  several  circumstances,  such  as  common  origin,  the  supe- 
riority of  a  powerful  tribe  over  its  weaker  neighbors,  and 
finally,  the  necessity  of  leaguing  together  on  account  of  the 
renewal  of  the  war  with  Rome. 


LI.    The  War  of  the  Marcomanni 

IT  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  Roman  empire  was 
simultaneously  attacked,  on  the  Rhine  and  Danube  by  the 
Germans,  and  in  Asia  by  the  Parthi  or  Persians,  A.D.  162. 
The  Rhenish  tribes  first  rose.  The  Catti,  formerly  so  incon- 
siderable, suddenly  invaded  Rhsetia  in  immense  numbers, 
and  advanced  as  far  as  the  Alps,  where  they  were  opposed, 
and,  after  an  obstinate  battle  (several  women  being  found 
among  the  slain),  defeated  by  Pertinax.  About  this  time, 
the  Chauci  appeared  on  the  Northern  Ocean,  and,  landing 
from  their  pirate  vessels,  devastated  the  coasts  of  Gaul  and 
Britain.  Shortly  after  these  events,  the  Germans  rushed  in 
enormous  masses  across  the  Danube,  headed  by  the  Marco- 
manni, whose  name  was  given  to  the  war,  accompanied  or 
followed  by  the  Quadi,  Bastarnae,  and  Hermunduri;  the 
Vandali  and  Goths,  with  numerous  minor  tribes,  the  Astin- 
gi,  Narisci,  Burii,  etc. ;  and  probably  also  the  Slavonian  Ja- 
zyges,  and  Roxolani.  These  countless  hordes  first  besieged 
Aquileia,  A.D.  166,  a  large  fortified  town  on  the  Adriatic. 
GERMANY.  VOL.  I. — 6 


122  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

The  brave  defense  of  this  place,  and  the  sudden  appearance 
of  Marcus  Aurelius,  the  wise  and  spirited  emperor  of  Rome, 
returning  at  the  head  of  his  victorious  legions  from  the  Par- 
thian war,  induced  the  Germans  to  retire  across  the  Danube, 
whence  they  soon  returned,  and  again  laid  waste  the  Roman 
provinces.  A  dreadful  plague  at  the  same  time  ravaged  the 
interior  of  the  empire. 

The  emperor,  undismayed  by  these  calamities,  collected 
indiscriminately  all  who  were  capable  of  bearing  arms,  even 
slaves  and  thieves,  and  marched  to  the  Danube.  It  had 
been  foretold  to  him,  that  if  he  caused  two  lions  to  swim 
across  that  river  the  enemy  would  flee;  and  he  accordingly 
did  so,  when  the  Germans,  mistaking  them  for  a  couple  of 
dogs,  killed  them  with  their  clubs.  Two  migrating  Vandal 
tribes  were  afterward  persuaded  by  the  emperor  to  assist 
him  against  the  other  Germans,  and  after  a  desperate  con- 
test he  was  victorious  over  the  Marcomanni  and  Jazyges. 
The  battle  with  the  latter  took  place  in  the  middle  of  the 
frozen  Danube.  They  were  completely  routed,  and  from 
this  single  nation  were  regained  no  less  than  100,000  Roman 
prisoners ;  a  circumstance  calculated  to  give  an  idea  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  war.  The  emperor  followed  up  his  victory 
by  an  attack  upon  the  Quadi,  who,  retreating  far  into  the 
interior,  drew  him  gradually  further  into  the  vast  wilder- 
ness, where  his  army  was  threatened  with  starvation  from 
thirst,  the  long  heats  having  dried  up  all  the  springs,  and 
their  fate  seemed  inevitable,  when  their  fainting  strength 
was  revived  by  a  sudden  storm.  A  Christian  legion,  said 
to  have  worked  this  miracle  by  their  prayers,  hence  received 
the  name  of  the  fiery  legion.  The  Quadi  were  afterward 
forced  to  make  peace,  A.D.  174,  and  the  emperor,  taking 
advantage  of  the  momentary  tranquillity,  restored  the  ruined 
fortresses  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube,  built  several  others, 
and  garrisoned  them  with  200,000  men.  The  Romans,  pre- 
suming on  their  strength,  now  neglected  to  fulfill  all  the  con- 
ditions of  the  peace,  and  began  to  annoy  the  Germans,  who 
8-gain  revolted,  and  a  battle  was  fought,  which  lasted  an 


THE   MIGRATIONS  123 

entire  day.  Before  the  war  was  concluded  Marcus  Aurelius 
died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Commodus,  A.D.  180,  a 
licentious  youth,  who,  anxious  only  to  continue  his  debauch- 
eries at  Rome,  instantly  concluded  a  shameful  peace  with  the 
Germans. 

LII.   The  Alemanni 

THIS  nation  belonged  to  the  ancient  Suevi,  and  were  the 
ancestors  of  the  Swabians.  The  petty  tribes  dwelling  to 
the  south  of  the  Catti  and  Hennunduri  appear  to  have  con- 
federated with  them,  and  early  in  the  third  century  to  have 
formed  a  mighty  nation,  which  passed  the  Heidenmauer, 
destroyed  the  Roman  cities  and  colonies,  and  made  their 
name  feared  throughout  the  whole  of  the  Black  Forest  as 
far  as  the  Rhine.  Although  appearing  under  the  name 
of  the  Alemanni  as  one  distinct  and  individual  nation,  they 
were  held  by  no  firm  political  bond,  and,  as  in  earlier  times, 
were  divided  into  several  districts,  each  completely  independ- 
ent of  the  other,  and  governed  by  its  own  council,  laws,  judge, 
or  duke.  Even  in  war  time  they  oftener  fought  singly  than 
in  unison,  and  only  on  particular  occasions  elected  a  tempo- 
rary war-chief.  They  were  bounded  on  the  north  by  the 
Catti  and  Hermunduri ;  on  the  east  by  the  Cenni  (the  an- 
cient Senones,  who  had  mingled  with  the  Alemanni  when 
pursued  by  the  Burgundians,  who,  issuing  from  Silesia, 
gradually  advanced  toward  the  west)  and  the  Boii — Mar- 
comanni  (from  whom  descended  the  Bojoarii  or  Bavarians). 
In  front  of  them,  behind  the  Rhine,  lay  Germania  Prima, 
Helvetia,  and  Rhsetia,  against  which  they  always,  and  with 
increasing  boldness,  directed  their  attacks. 

They  first  appeared  in  modern  Swabia  after  the  great 
war  of  the  Marcomanni,  when  peace  reigned  on  the  fron- 
tiers. Caracalla,  the  Roman  emperor,  took  them  into  high 
favor,  wore  their  dress  and  a  light-colored  wig  in  order  to 
resemble  them  the  more  closely,  and  is  said  to  have  been 
deprived  of  his  senses  by  the  magical  songs  of  the  Ale- 
mannic  women ;  often  telling  the  Germans  that  they  ought 


124  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

to  come  over  and  destroy  the  Roman  empire,  and  then  put- 
ting the  interpreters  to  death,  lest  the  Romans  should  dis- 
cover what  he  had  said.  This  mad  emperor,  nevertheless, 
often  ill-treated  his  German  friends.  On  one  occasion  he 
sent  for  a  number  of  the  young  Alemanni,  under  pretense 
of  enrolling  them  in  his  army,  and  then,  with  a  scornful 
laugh,  ordered  them  to  be  put  to  death.  A  general  insur- 
rection, in  which  the  Catti  joined,  was  the  immediate  result. 
The  emperor  was  victorious,  and,  after  the  battle,  asking  the 
captured  women,  "which  they  preferred,  death  or  slavery?" 
was  answered  by  their  murdering  their  children  and  then 
destroying  themselves,  A.D.  213. 

During  the  campaign  of  his  successor,  Alexander  Severus, 
hi  Parthia,  the  Germans  again  crossed  the  Rhine,  and  occa- 
sioned such  universal  terror  that  the  emperor  was  obliged 
to  hasten  his  return  to  Italy,  where  he  was  greeted  with 
delight,  but  expired  before  the  opening  of  the  campaign, 
A.D.  234. 

The  name  of  the  next  emperor  is  traced  in  German  his- 
tory in  characters  of  blood.  Public  spirit  no  longer  existed 
in  any  part  of  the  empire.  The  soldiers,  numbers  of  whom 
were  Germans,  usurped  the  chief  authority  and  raised  Maxi- 
min,  a  Goth,  a  man  of  extraordinary  bodily  strength,  and 
accounted  the  bravest  in  the  army,  to  the  imperial  throne. 
In  order  to  prove  to  his  subjects  that  he  had  renounced  his 
former  kindred,  and  was  a  thorough  Roman,  he  instantly 
continued  the  Rhenish  campaign  with  unusual  vigor,  and 
carried  war  and  desolation  into  the  very  heart  of  his  native 
country.  At  the  head  of  an  innumerable  army,  which  he 
had  himself  conducted  from  the  sands  of  Africa  and  the 
steppes  of  Parthia,  he  marched  triumphantly  about  four 
hundred  miles  in  different  directions  through  Germany, 
burning  and  destroying  all  before  him.  A  great  battle  took 
place  in  a  now  unknown  morass  or  lake,  in  which  the  em- 
peror narrowly  escaped  with  his  life.  He  is  a  proof  of  the 
truth  of  the  axiom,  "that  the  renegade  is  ever  his  country's 
bitterest  foe."  The  ingratitude  of  the  Romans  fearfully 


THE   MIGRATIONS  125 

avenged  his  crimes,  and  lie  J  and  his  son,  who  is  said  to 
have  been  the  handsomest  youth  of  his  time,  and  who  was 
on  the  eve  of  wedding  the  noblest  and  most  beautiful  of  the 
Roman  maidens,  fell  by  their  hands,  A.D.  235. 

LIIT.   Alemannic  Warriors 

THE  Alemanni  invaded  Gaul  A.D.  253.  A  young  warrior 
inquiring  of  his  mother  how  glory  was  to  be  gained,  "There 
are  only  two  ways,"  she  replied,  "one  by  creating  grandeur, 
the  other  by  destroying  it. ' '  The  latter  possessed  the  higher 
attraction,  and  leading  a  large  army  across  the  Rhine,  A.D. 
259,  he  utterly  destroyed  more  than  sixty  Gallic  cities,  of 
which  not  one  stone  was  left  upon  the  other.  He  subse- 
quently fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Romans  at  Aries,  and,  im- 
prisoned in  an  iron  cage,  was  carried  about  the  country,  a 
fit  object  of  contumely  and  scorn.  Gallienus,  who  was  then 
emperor,  married  Pi  para,  the  beautiful  daughter  of  a  king 
of  the  Marcomanni.  Roman  history,  the  only  one  that 
touches  upon  these  events,  is  neither  graphic  nor  precise 
in  respect  to  them,  and  merely  speaks  of  a  battle,  near  the 
Lake  of  Garda,  where  300,000  of  the  Alpine  Alemanni  were 
defeated  by  12,000  Romans;  and  records  that  not  many 
years  after  the  same  nation  again  swarmed  from  the  Rhine 
and  the  Alps,  until  checked  by  the  bravery  and  skill  of 
Probus,  the  warlike  Roman  emperor,  who  even,  for  a  short 
time,  restored  the  Heidenmauer,  and  the  fortresses  of  Ha- 
drian, A.D.  277. 

Christianity,  meanwhile,  progressed.  Crocus  is  said  to 
have  found  some  Christian  clergy  in  Gaul,  whom  he  obliged 
to  sacrifice  to  the  gods.  According  to  the  legend,  the  em- 
peror, Maximian,  caused  a  whole  legion,  named  the  Thebaii, 
with  their  leader,  Mauritius,  to  be  cut  to  pieces,  A.D.  287,  on 
account  of  their  profession  of  the  Christian  faith,  with  which 

1  To  this  emperor  is  ascribed  the  transplantation  of  11,000  British  maidens 
into  Gaul,  who,  on  their  way,  were  killed  by  the  arrows  of  the  wild  Saxons  near 
Cologne,  on  the  Rhine. — Legends  of  St.  Ursula. 


126  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

he  feared  they  might  infect  the  rest  of  the  troops.  This  event 
took  place  at  Sitten,  or  Sion,  in  Valais,  on  the  spot  where  the 
large  monastery  of  St.  Moritz  now  stands.  About  the  same 
period,  at  Augsburg,  then  a  Roman  city,  St.  Afra,  a  disso- 
lute female,  who  had  been  suddenly  converted  to  Christian- 
ity, which  she  zealously  preached,  suffered  the  death  of  a 
martyr,  and  was  afterward  canonized.  Maximian,  unable 
to  stem  the  torrent  that  threatened  to  overwhelm  Italy,  now 
shared  the  imperial  throne  with  Diocletian,  who  invaded 
Swabia,  while  he  opposed  the  Franks  and  Saxons  on  the 
Lower  Rhine ;  but  so  little  was  effected  that  the  civil  feuds 
among  the  Germans  alone  protected  the  Romans  from  de- 
struction, A.D.  288.  The  Goths  and  Vandals  pressed  forci- 
bly onward,  opposed  by  the  Thuringi,  Burgundians,  and 
Alemanni.  "Holy  Jupiter!"  exclaimed  the  Roman,  Ma- 
mertius,  "at  length  they  bathe  in  their  own  blood!"  But 
the  exultation  of  the  Romans  was  only  momentary;  Hel- 
vetia was  before  long  again  invaded  by  the  Alemanni,  who, 
during  this  irruption,  destroyed  all  the  works  of  the  Romans, 
particularly  the  magnificent  cities  of  Vindonissa  and  Aventi- 
cum,  A.D.  303,  which  were  so  completely  razed  to  the  ground 
that,  fifty  years  later,  a  forest,  known  as  the  Helvetian  Wil- 
derness, covered  their  sites.  The  Alemanni  were  in  such 
force  on  the  Upper  Rhine  that  Constantine  the  Great,  the 
first  emperor  who  professed  Christianity,  which  he  estab- 
lished throughout  the  empire,  owed  his  elevation  to  the 
throne  to  their  friendship,  and  particularly  to  that  of  their 
leader,  Crocus.  Proclaimed  emperor  by  the  troops  on  the 
Rhine,  A.D.  306,  he  defeated  his  rival  by.  the  assistance  of 
the  Germans,  whose  services  were  afterward  requited  with 
ingratitude,  as  will  hereafter  be  related.  After  waging  a 
cruel  war  against  the  Franks,  he  erected  a  fortress,  named 
after  him,  Constance,  on  the  Bodensee,  with  such  a  hostile 
intention  against  the  Alemanni  that  they  finally  joined  the 
Franks,  but  were  defeated,  and  for  some  time  after  remained 
in  tranquillity. 

Constantius,  the  son  and  successor  of  Constantine,  being 


THE   MIGRATIONS  127 

furiously  attacked  by  his  father's  bitter  enemies,  the  Franks, 
anxiously  sought  the  alliance  of  the  Alemanni,  whose  chief, 
Chnodomar,  a  gigantic  warrior,  aided  him  in  subduing-  them 
and  their  leader,  Magnentius ;  but  scarcely  were  they  van- 
quished than  the  faithless  emperor,  uniting  with  a  part  of 
them,  attacked  his  allies,  A.D.  353,  who  revenged  his  treach- 
ery by  devastating  the  Roman  frontier.  They  were  victori- 
ous on  the  Alps,  but  were  afterward  defeated  near  the  Bo- 
densee  by  Arbetius,  the  Roman  general,  A.D.  355.  Shortly 
after  this,  the  emperor  Julian  the  Apostate,  who  commanded 
on  the  Rhine,  and  his  lieutenant,  Barbatius,  simultaneously 
invaded  Swabia,  from  opposite  quarters;  upon  which  the 
Alemanni  marched  boldly  between  the  invading  armies  as 
far  as  Lyons,  destroyed  several  cities  on  their  route,  and 
then,  returning  to  the  Rhine,  suddenly  attacked  Barbatius, 
over  whom  they  gained  a  complete  victory,  and  retreated 
to  their  own  country  laden  with  spoil.  Julian  raised  the 
fortress  of  Tres  Tabernae,  Zabern,  as  a  rendezvous  for  the 
troops,  and  collected  a  numerous  army,  which  induced 
the  whole  nation  of  the  Alemanni  to  join  the  standard  of 
Chnodomar,  who,  mounted  on  a  fiery  horse,  his  helmet 
adorned  with  red  plumes,  and  an  enormous  lance  in  his 
right  hand,  crossed  the  Alps  at  their  head,  and  solemnly 
demanded  the  cession  of  Alsace  from  the  emperor,  who  dis- 
missed his  embassadors,  and  gave  him  battle  near  Stras- 
burg.  An  immense  slaughter  ensued.  As  soon  as  victory 
began  to  side  with  the  Romans,  the  infantry  of  the  Alemanni 
obliged  their  princes  and  nobles  to  dismount  and  to  fight  on 
foot,  so  that  none  could  save  themselves  by  flight.  Chnodo- 
mar, becoming  entangled  in  a  morass,  was  taken  prisoner, 
and  two  hundred  of  his  companions  in  arms,  who  formed 
his  bodyguard,  voluntarily  yielded  to  the  conqueror,  in  order 
to  share  his  fate.  He  was  carried  to  Rome,  where  he  died 
of  nostalgia.  Julian  then  sailed  up  the  Maine,  wasting  the 
country  of  the  Alemanni  on  the  right  bank  as  far  as  Spes- 
sart,  where  the  natives  made  a  valiant  defense  behind  an 
impenetrable  abatis.  The  greater  part  of  the  nation  was. 


128  THE   HISTORY    OF   GERMANY 

however,  forced  to  submit,  and  to  deliver  up  20,000  Roman 
prisoners,  besides  furnishing  wood  from  their  forests  for  the 
reconstruction  of  the  cities  they  had  destroyed  on  the  Rhine, 
A.D.  357.  The  Alemanni  were  now  hard  pushed  by  Julian, 
who,  following  up  his  victory,  and  contriving  to  render  their 
leaders  suspected,  and  to  set  them  at  variance,  took  some 
by  stratagem,  and  made  the  rest  submit  by  force.  On  their 
again  meeting,  as  was  their  custom,  for  the  purpose  of  plan- 
ning a  conspiracy,  during  one  of  their  midnight  festivals, 
he  attacked  them  so  suddenly  that  they  escaped  with  great 
difficulty  by  flight,  A.D.  359.  Vadomar,  whom  he  invited 
to  a  banquet  and  treacherously  seized,  afterward  served  in 
Asia,  and  distinguished  himself  as  a  Roman  general  in  the 
Parthian  war.  After  the  departure  of  Julian,  the  Alemanni 
regained  courage,  crossed  the  Rhine  on  the  ice,  and  devastated 
Gaul,  but  were  surprised  near  Chalons,  while  bathing  in  the 
Marne,  by  Jovinus,  who  put  them  to  the  rout,  and  hanged 
their  leader,  A.D.  360.  The  following  year  they  made  an- 
other incursion  under  Rhando,  and  attacked  the  city  of 
Mayence;  upon  which  the  emperor  Valentinian,  assisted 
by  Jovinus,  invaded  the  Black  Forest,  A.D.  361,  where  he 
was  skillfully  opposed  by  Viticabius,  the  sickly  but  energetic 
son  of  Vadomar,  and  by  Macrian,  the  equally  sickly,  but 
intelligent  leader  of  the  Catti;  the  former  of  whom  he  caused 
to  be  murdered.  The  latter  defied  his  attempts.  The  Ale- 
manni and  Catti  made  a  desperate  defense  on  a  high  moun- 
tain near  Sulz,  A.D.  368.  The  emperor,  unable  to  reduce 
them  to  submission,  now  incited  the  Burgundians  against 
them,  and  a  quarrel,  similar  to  that  between  the  Catti  and 
Hermunduri,  arose  between  them,  on  account  of  the  salt- 
works on  their  frontiers,  and  the  Burgundians  marched 
against  them  to  the  number  of  80,000  men.  Upon  this, 
Macrian  prudently  made  terms  with  them,  and  avoided  a 
battle;  and  the  Romans,  afraid  of  their  new  guests,  break- 
ing the  treaty,  the  Burgundians  murdered  the  Roman  dele- 
gates, A.D,  370,  and  returned  to  then*  own  country.  The 
indefatigable  emperor  then  incited  the  Franks  against  the 


THE   MIGRATIONS  129 

Alemanni,  while  Macrian,  with  equal  perseverance,  sought 
to  confederate  the  whole  of  the  northern  Germans  against 
him.  The  emperor,  discovering  some  of  his  letters  to  Hor- 
tar,  a  conquered  Alemannic  prince,  tortured  him  to  death, 
and  nearly  succeeded  in  capturing  Macrian  (in  aquis  Mat- 
tiacis)  at  Wiesbaden,  where  he  was  lying  sick,  A.D.  371. 
The  repeated  and  bloody  defeats  suffered  by  the  Romans 
on  the  Danube,  in  their  war  with  the  Goths,  now  forced 
them  to  withdraw  from  the  Rhine,  where  the  faithless  Mel- 
lobaudes,  who  favored  the  Romans,  laid  wait  for  Macrian 
and  murdered  him.  Two  years  after,  A.D.  375,  the  Ale- 
manni, under  Priarius,  invaded  Alsace,  but  were  defeated 
and  cut  to  pieces  at  Colmar  by  Mellobaudes.  Although  the 
power  of  Rome  was  forever  annihilated,  the  Alemanni  were 
forced  to  quit  Gaul,  and,  wandering  southward,  peopled  the 
Alps,  where  their  descendants,  the  Swiss,  still  dwell.  In 
the  fourth  century,  Ausonius,  the  Roman  poet,  whose  works 
are  still  extant,  immortalized  the  charms  of  Bissula,  an  Ale- 
mannic maid. 

LIV.  The  Franks 

AMONG  the  Low  German  tribes,  who  fought  under  Armin, 
appear  the  Catti  and  the  Chauci,  who,  in  the  third  century, 
although  the  names  of  the  individual  tribes  were  not  yet  en- 
tirely lost,  were  gradually  included  under  the  general  denomi- 
nation of  Franks  and  Saxons.  Frank  signifies  free,  and  the 
tribes  that  confederated  for  the  preservation  of  their  freedom 
were  distinguished  by  this  name.  The  experience  gained  in 
the  Roman  war  taught  them  the  value  of  union,  and  their 
ancient  book  of  laws  boasts  in  its  preface  that  the  confeder- 
ated Franks  were  powerful  enough  completely  to  cast  off  the 
galling  Roman  yoke  (gens  Francorum,  firma  pacis  foadere, 
quae  Romanorum  jugum  durissimum  de  suis  cervicibus  ex- 
cussit  pugnando).  Their  name,  although  not  mentioned  by 
the  Roman  historians  until  the  third  century  after  Christ, 
may,  with  great  probability,  be  ascribed  to  the  time  of 
Civilis,  who  roused  all  the  Lower  Germans  in  the  name 


130  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

of  Freedom,  and,  according  to  Tacitus,  said  expressly  to  the 
people  of  Cologne,"  You  will  be  free  (frank)  among  the  free" 
(franken) ;  liberi  inter  liberos  eritis.  Nazarius,  the  panegy- 
rist of  Constantine,  says  that  all  the  Lower  German  tribes 
had  formed  a  strong  league  (conspiratione  fcederatse  societatis 
exarserunt).  The  Franks,  like  the  Alemanni,  were  for  a  long 
period  a  simple  federation  of  independent  tribes,  composed  of 
the  Sicambri,  Chamavri,  Bructeri,  Catti,  Cherusci,  etc.,  and 
all  the  other  petty  Low  German  tribes,  which,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  few  that  united  with  the  Saxons,  were,  at  a  later 
period,  included  under  two  heads,  as  Salic  and  Ripuarian 
Franks.  They  had  also  among  them  many  petty  leaders  or 
dukes,  who  were  even  oftener  at  feud  with  one  another  than 
those  of  the  Alemanni.  They  are  first  mentioned  as  fight- 
ing against  the  emperor  Gallienus,  by  whom  they  were  de- 
feated, A.D.  256.  They  subsequently  made  a  great  irruption 
into  Gaul,  A.D.  260,  and  thence  penetrating  into  Spain  (ac- 
cording to  Aurelius  Victor,  who  merely  mentions  the  fact), 
destroyed  the  great  city  of  Tarragona,  and  for  twelve  years 
maintained  their  position  on  the  other  side  of  the  Pyrenees, 
whence  they  were  driven  by  Posthumus.  Their  ships  are 
said,  even  at  that  early  period,  to  have  visited  Africa.  Au- 
relian  repelled  a  fresh  irruption  of  the  Franks  into  Gaul, 
A.D.  265.  After  his  death,  A.D.  273,  they  again  invaded 
that  country,  and  found  a  powerful  opponent  in  his  suc- 
cessor, Probus,  who  defeated  both  them  and  the  Alemanni, 
A.D.  277,  repaired  the  old  Roman  fortresses,  walls,  and 
roads,  and  subdued  the  Gothic  Lygii  and  Arii,  whose  prince, 
Semnus,  fell  into  his  hands.  He  also  reduced  the  Burgun- 
dians  and  Vandals,  in  the  interior  of  Germany,  to  submis- 
sion, took  Igillus,  the  Vandal  prince,  prisoner,  and  settled 
the  vanquished  tribe  in  the  country  of  Vandelsburg,  in  Brit- 
ain; his  policy  being  to  remove  the  Germans  to  distant 
countries,  when  he  engaged  them  in  the  Roman  service.  He 
valued  the  Germans  at  a  gold  piece  a  head,  and  carried  on 
a  regular  plan  of  kidnapping.  He  caused  several  thousand 
Frankish  men  and  youths  to  be  transported  to  Asia,  where 


THE   MIGRATIONS  131 

he  settled  them  on  the  borders  of  the  Black  Sea.  He  re- 
mained for  some  time  on  the  Rhine,  fortifying  the  banks  and 
adorning  them  with  vineyards.  The  fortifications  were  after- 
ward destroyed  by  the  Franks  and  Alemanni,  who  carefully 
preserved  the  vineyards  from  injury,  and  cultivated  them 
with  the  greatest  assiduity.  These  improvements  were  fatal 
to  the  emperor  Probus,  who  was  murdered  by  his  own  sol- 
diers, impatient  of  the  hard  labor  imposed  upon  them  in  the 
cultivation  of  these  vineyards.  At  the  same  time,  the  Franks, 
who  had  been  transported  to  Asia,  being  pressed  beyond  en- 
durance, suddenly  rose,  and  after  murdering  all  the  Romans 
in  their  vicinity,  seized  a  considerable  fleet,  which  lay  at 
anchor  in  the  Black  Sea,  sailed  to  the  Archipelago,  plun- 
dered the  wealthy  maritime  cities  and  landed  in  Sicily,  where 
they  took  the  great  city  of  Syracuse,  and  returned  to  their 
ships  laden  with  booty.  Landing  in  Africa,  they  battled 
with  the  Romans  beneath  the  walls  of  Carthage,  and  being 
worsted,  retreated  to  their  ships,  sailed  unopposed  through 
the  Mediterranean,  and  coasting  Spain  and  Gaul,  as  far  as 
the  Northern  Ocean,  returned  laden  with  wealth  to  their 
native  country. 

LV.   Prankish  Upstarts  and  Traitors 

AFTER  the  death  of  Probus,  the  Franks  again  crossed  the 
frontier,  and  attacked  the  emperor  Maximian  at  Treves,  where 
he  held  his  court,  but  were  repulsed,  and  compelled  to  replace 
their  prince,  Genobaudes,  whom  they  had  driven  away,  on 
his  throne.  In  the  hope  of  winning  them  over,  the  emperor 
ceded  the  waste  country  lying  on  the  frontiers,  and  entered 
into  an  alliance  with  them.  This  narrow-sighted  policy  pro- 
duced most  important  results.  The  Franks,  taking  advan- 
tage of  their  central  position,  aided  the  Romans  against  the 
other  Germans,  or  vice  versd,  as  better  suited  their  own 
projects  of  aggrandizement,  while  they  imperceptibly  in* 
creased  in  power  and  in  political  weight. 

Constantino  the  Great,  although  a  Christian,  was  cruel, 


132  THE  HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

false,  and  treacherous,  and  the  instigator  of  treason  in  oth- 
ers. When  celebrating  his  victory  over  the  Franks  at  Treves, 
he  caused  a  number  of  the  prisoners,  among  others  two  Frank- 
ish  princes,  Ascar  and  Ragais,  to  be  thrown  to  the  wild  beasts 
in  the  amphitheater,  where,  smiling  in  scorn,  they  met  their 
doom  with  the  utmost  intrepidity.  The  whole  of  the  Ger- 
mans, Franks,  and  Alemanni,  enraged  at  this  act  of  cruelty 
and  thirsting  for  revenge,  united  against  the  emperor,  who, 
entering  their  camp  in  disguise,  gave  them  false  information 
of  his  departure,  and  of  the  place  and  time  when  he  would 
be  most  open  to  attack.  The  stratagem  succeeded,  and  the 
allied  Germans  were  completely  beaten,  A.D.  310.  He  now 
plotted  their  entire  reduction,  and  pretending  to  be  on  the 
point  of  undertaking  an  expedition  against  the  Alemanni, 
suddenly  changed  his  course,  and  marching  down  the  Rhine 
unexpectedly  attacked  the  Franks,  A.D.  318.  The  erection 
of  a  great  bridge  near  Cologne  afforded  him  for  the  future 
free  ingress  into  their  country.  (This  bridge  was  standing 
until  955,  when  it  was  broken  up  by  order  of  Archbishop  Bru- 
no, and  the  stones  were  used  in  building  the  monastery  of  St. 
Pantaleone. )  Notwithstanding  this  ill  treatment,  the  Franks 
again  befriended  the  emperor,  and  flocking  beneath  his  stand- 
ard, aided  in  vanquishing  Licinius,  the  competitor  for  the  im- 
perial throne.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  he  invoked  the 
God  of  the  Christians  to  grant  him  the  victory,  and  in  conse- 
quence of  his  success  embraced  their  religion.  The  impor- 
tance to  which  the  Frankish  nation  had  already  risen  is 
clearly  demonstrated  by  the  circumstance  of  a  soldier  named 
Magnentius  having  set  himself  up  as  a  candidate  for  the  im- 
perial throne,  in  opposition  to  Constantius,  the  successor  of 
Constantino.  He  was  betrayed  by  Silvanus,  one  of  his  coun- 
trymen, who  deserted  to  the  emperor  with  part  of  his  follow- 
ers at  the  decisive  moment.  On  the  eve  of  the  great  battle 
of  Mursa  on  the  Drave,  Magnentius  entreated  the  gods  for 
victory,  and  after  sacrificing  a  maiden  on  the  altar,  mixed 
her  blood  with  wine,  which  he  distributed  to  the  whole  army. 
His  defeat  was  decisive,  and  he  killed  himself.  His  brother, 


THE   MIGRATIONS  133 

Deventius,  who  had  remained  in  Gaul,  defended  himself  for 
some  time,  but,  finding  opposition  useless,  also  deprived  him- 
self of  life,  A.D.  353.  Silvanus,  after  assisting  hi  driving  his 
fellow  countrymen  back  to  the  frontier,  incurred  the  sus- 
picion of  having  connived  at  a  fresh  and  unexpected  irrup- 
tion on  their  part,  in  which  they  destroyed  forty  cities,  and 
Constantius  lending  an  ear  to  the  insinuations  of  his  secret 
enemies,  he  was  compelled  to  seek  safety  by  flight,  and  re- 
joined his  countrymen,  who  received  him  with  delight,  and 
solemnly  proclaimed  him  emperor  at  Cologne.  He  was  mur- 
dered by  a  certain  Nosicius,  A.D.  356,  a  pretended  deserter, 
employed  for  that  purpose  by  Constantius.  The  emperor 
Julian  also  combated  the  Franks,  who,  for  thirty  days,  fruit- 
lessly besieged  him  in  Sens,  when  dissension  again  broke  out 
among  them.  The  ancient  Sicambri,  who  dwelt  close  to  the 
Roman  frontier,  were  pressed  upon  by  then-  neighbors  the 
Chamavri.  Charietto,  the  leader  of  the  Sicambri,  aided  by 
Julian,  defeated  the  Chamavri,  and  took  their  chief,  Nelio- 
gast,  prisoner,  A.D.  360.  The  whole  frontier  of  the  Nether- 
lands was  afterward  held  by  the  Sicambri  as  a  Roman  fief, 
and  they  are  henceforward  known  as  the  Salic  Franks. 
Charietto  became  their  first  prefect,  and  afforded  great 
assistance  to  the  emperor  against  the  Alemanni.  He  was 
succeeded  by  Mellobaudes,  who  was  also  in  alliance  with 
Rome. 

Somewhat  later,  the  Franks  were  governed  by  three 
princes,  Marcomir,  Genobald,  and  Sunno;  and  it  appears 
that  at  that  period  a  reaction  took  place  in  the  feelings  of 
the  people,  who  once  more  began  to  feel  ashamed  of  the 
treasonable  part  they  enacted  by  thus  affording  assistance 
to  the  enemies  of  their  country.  Their  countryman,  Arbo- 
gastes,  the  zealous  ally  of  Rome,  was  their  most  violent 
opponent  during  their  heroic  struggle  for  freedom. 

The  emperor  Maximus  sent  Quintinus  at  the  head  of  a 
powerful  force  into  their  country,  where  they  lay  in  wait 
for  him  in  the  forests,  as  is  expressly  related,  armed  with 
poisoned  arrows,  and  he  suffered  a  discomfiture  as  complete 


134  THE   HISTORY  OF    GERMANY 

as  that  of  Varus,  but  few  of  the  soldiers  escaping  to  bear 
news  of  the  disaster.  The  conquerors  followed  up  their  vic- 
tory by  the  invasion  of  Gaul,  A.D.  388,  when  they  were  at 
first  opposed  by  Arbogastes,  who  soon  after,  changing  his 
plans,  arbitrarily  set  up  a  new  emperor,  by  name  Eugenius, 
a  rhetorician,  and  negotiated  for  peace  and  alliance  with 
the  invaders,  whom  he  finally  persuaded  to  lend  their  aid 
to  Eugenius,  upon  which  a  destructive  war  broke  out  be- 
tween them  and  the  rival  emperor,  Theodosius,  who  was 
supported  by  the  Goths.  A  great  battle  took  place  between 
the  two  nations  at  Aquileia,  in  which  the  Goths  were  victo- 
rious. Eugenius  was  executed,  and  Arbogastes  fled  to  the 
Alps,  where  he  put  an  end  to  his  life,  A.D.  394. 

The  difference  between  the  national  character  of  the 
Franks  and  that  of  the  Alemanni  is  visible  even  at  this 
early  period ;  and  to  the  close  alliance  that  so  long  subsisted 
between  the  Franks  and  the  Romans  may  be  justly  ascribed 
the  traits  which,  at  a  later  period,  distinguished  the  former, 
whose  upstart  warriors  have  ever  been  noted  for  treachery, 
ambition,  and  love  of  luxury.  "Choose  the  Frank  for  a 
friend,  but  not  for  a  neighbor,"  was  even  then  a  proverb. 
Salvianus  says,  "The  Franks,  instead  of  deeming  perjury 
criminal,  call  it  a  mere  fagon  de  parler."  "They  laugh, 
and  break  their  word,"  observes  Vopiscus.  A  practice  they 
had  probably  acquired  among  other  Roman  customs,  and 
which  was  unknown  to  the  other  nations  of  Germany,  who, 
uncontaminated  by  an  alliance  with  the  enemies  of  their 
country,  ever  retained  their  love  of  simplicity  and  truth. 

LVI.   The  Saxons 

THE  Saxons  dwelt  beyond  the  Ffanks,  and  consisted  of 
the  Chauci,  Frisii,  and  the  remnants  of  the  tribes  collected 
on  the  coasts  of  the  Northern  Ocean  and  the  Baltic.  Their 
name  has  been  variously  derived  from  the  ancient  Sacse  '  on 

1  Probably  the  Siks.— Trans. 


THE  MIGRATIONS  135 

the  Indus,  from  Sachs,  race,  or  from  Sassen,  freeholders. 
According  to  tradition,  they  came  by  sea  (from  the  army  of 
Alexander  the  Great)  to  Hadel,  where  they  landed,  and  buy- 
ing from  the  Thuringi,  who  at  that  period  stretched  far  down 
toward  the  Northern  Ocean,  a  gownful  of  earth,  spread  it 
over  a  large  territory,  to  which  they  laid  claim,  and  then 
inviting  the  Thuringian  chiefs  to  meet  them  unarmed  for 
the  purpose  of  negotiating  the  affair,  murdered  them  during 
the  banquet  with  knives  worn  for  that  purpose,  concealed 
beneath  their  dresses.  According  to  a  legend  somewhat 
similar  to  that  of  the  Edda,  the  Saxons  and  their  first  king 
Ascan  sprang  from  the  rocks  of  the  Harz  Mountains;  and 
the  proverb,  "There  are  Saxons  wherever  pretty  girls  grow 
out  of  the  trees, ' '  is  still  in  use.  The  ancient  account  of  this 
people  is  very  obscure.  Odin  went  from  Saxony  to  Scandi- 
navia, and  his  descendants  at  a  later  period  from  that  coun- 
try to  England.  In  the  beginning  of  the  third  century,  the 
Chauci  were  powerful  by  sea,  and  plundered  the  Roman 
coasts ;  and  somewhat  later,  the  Saxons  were  continually  at 
war  with  the  Normans  in  Denmark  and  Norway.  "When 
the  Roman  empire  was  under  the  joint  rule  of  Diocletian 
and  Maximian,  the  former  of  whom  defended  the  Danube, 
the  latter  the  Rhine,  the  subjection  of  the  Saxon  pirates, 
who  had  long  and  unopposed  infested  the  northern  seas,  was 
planned,  and  toward  the  close  of  the  third  century,  Carau- 
sius,  an  experienced  sea  captain,  attacked  and  overcame 
them.  He  subsequently  entered  into  a  strict  alliance  with 
them,  and  set  himself  up  as  emperor,  a  title  which  he,  for 
some  time,  maintained  by  their  assistance. 

The  connection  between  the  Saxons  and  the  Vindili,  or 
the  Gothic  tribes  on  the  Baltic,  is  also  buried  in  obscurity. 
When  the  latter,  migrating  in  a  body  to  the  south,  left  their 
ancient  place  of  abode  completely  unoccupied,  they  were  suc- 
ceeded by  the  Slavian  tribes,  who,  settling  there,  became  the 
eastern  neighbors  of  the  Saxons.  It  is  only  known  for  cer- 
tain, that  a  part  of  the  Saxons  accompanied  the  Longobardi 
to  Italy,  but  by  far  the  greater  number  migrated  to  Eng- 


136  THE  HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

land.  It  was  customary  for  the  old  men  to  remain  at  home, 
while  the  surplus  population,  consisting  of  young  and  hardy 
warriors,  was  annually  sent  forth  to  seek  a  settlement  else- 
where, and  to  win  a  new  country  by  their  swords.  Godfrey 
of  Monmouth,  the  English  chronicler,  relates  that  the  first 
Saxons  who  visited  England  alleged  this  custom  as  the  rea- 
son of  their  migration.  An  annual  meeting  of  all  the  chiefs 
of  the  people  was  held  at  Marklo  in  Saxony,  and  the  young 
men,  chosen  by  lot,  were,  according  to  law,  obliged  to  bid  an 
eternal  farewell  to  their  native  country. 

LVII.    The  Goths 

TOWARD  the  close  of  the  second  century,  the  great  nation 
of  the  Goths,  accompanied  by  countless  other  northern  tribes, 
descended  from  the  north  to  the  coasts  of  the  Black  Sea. 
Tradition  records  that  the  ancestors  of  the  Goths  sailed  in 
three  ships,  commanded  by  King  Berig,  from  their  ancient 
home,  Gothland  in  Sweden,  to  the  German  side  of  the  Baltic, 
and  landed  at  Gothiscantzia  (Dantzig).  One  of  their  ships 
arriving  later  than  the  rest,  the  men  on  board  of  it  received 
the  name  of  Gepidse,  from  the  word  gapan,  to  stare  idly,  to 
delay,  to  gape.  Gradually  spreading  along  the  coast,  they 
conquered  the  Ulmerugi  and  Vandali,  but  meeting  with  op- 
position from  the  Saxons  in  their  advance  toward  the  west, 
they  turned  southward,  conquering  the  tribes  or  forcing 
them  along  with  them  on  their  route,  and  at  length  reached 
the  Black  Sea.  Many  of  the  Goths  were,  however,  left  in 
the  north,  in  the  part  of  Sweden  that  still  bears  the  name 
of  Gothland.  The  preponderance  of  the  Gothic  name  over 
those  of  the  other  eastern  German  tribes  perhaps  arose  from 
an  ancient  religious  superstition,  as  well  as  from  their  intel- 
lectual superiority.  The  civilized  manners  of  the  Greeks 
and  Romans,  and,  in  later  times,  Christianity,  rapidly  spread 
among  them,  and  the  regulations  they  introduced,  during 
the  peace  consequent  on  the  cessation  of  migration,  were  fol- 
lowed by  all  the  other  German  tribes,  and  laid  the  founda- 


THE   MIGRATIONS  137 

tion  of  a  new  era.  In  other  respects,  the  Goths  had  the 
same  form  of  government  with  the  other  Germans.  Each 
tribe  was  sometimes  headed  by  an  independent  chief,  who 
was  either  a  judge,  a  duke,  or  a  king ;  sometimes  several  of 
these  tribes  obeyed  a  common  head,  or  it  happened  that  a 
king,  who  had  gained  the  upper  hand,  reigned  over  several 
minor  and  tributary  chiefs;  but  this  sort  of  authority  was 
never  of  long  continuance,  and  the  tribes  became  once  more 
independent.  At  length,  the  chiefs  of  the  most  considerable 
tribes  succeeded  in  retaining  during  peace  the  authority  in- 
trusted to  them  during  war,  and  rendered  their  dignity  not 
only  perpetual,  but  also  added  to  it  a  power  which  soon 
threatened  the  ancient  liberties  of  the  people;  the  natural 
result  of  protracted  warfare  and  of  encroaching  military 
rule.  In  the  great  Gothic  migrations,  the  Goths  seem  to 
have  been  the  most  considerable  nation,  and  appear  after 
the  Marcomanni,  Quadi,  Getse,  Peucini,  and  Bastarnse,  who 
must  have  been  gradually  incorporated  with  them,  as  they 
also  were  generally  denominated  Goths,  and  were  divided 
into  Ostrogoths,  of  which  the  Gruthungri  formed  the  most 
considerable  tribe,  and  Visigoths,  the  chief  tribes  of  which 
were  the  Therwingri  and  Taiphali.  Connected  with  the 
Goths  were  the  Gepidaa,  who  are  said  to  have  accompanied 
them;  the  Longobardi,  from  Denmark;  the  Heruli,  also 
from  the  Scandinavian  north;  the  Vandali,  from  the  Baltic; 
the  Rugii,  from  the  island  of  Riigen ;  the  Burgundians,  from 
the  Oder.  The  Alani,  Hirri,  and  Scirri,  are  of  dubious 
origin ;  and  the  Jazyges  and  Roxolani,  who  joined  the  Goths 
in  their  march,  were  without  doubt  Sclavonians. 

LYIII.    Great  Irruption  against  Rome 

THE  Goths  were  already  known  at  the  time  of  the  war 
with  the  Marcomanni,  to  whose  rear  they  had  been  long  set- 
tled before  they  made  a  direct  attack  upon  the  Roman  em- 
pire. During  the  discussion  of  this  project  in  the  popular 
assembly,  three  of  their  chiefs  were  struck  by  lightning,  and 


138  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

the  unlucky  omen  caused  its  renunciation,  A.D.  192.  In  the 
commencement  of  the  third  century,  they  had  become  ex- 
tremely powerful,  and  compelled  the  emperor  Caracalla  to 
pay  them  an  annual  tribute ;  and  shortly  after,  Maximin,  a 
Goth  by  birth,  was  raised  to  the  imperial  throne,  who,  how- 
ever, was  so  devoid  of  patriotism,  as  to  include  his  fellow 
countrymen  in  the  fierce  and  cruel  war  carried  on  by  him 
against  the  western  Germans.  After  his  death,  the  tribute 
was  again  exacted  from  the  Romans,  and  the  Goths  invaded 
Greece  under  Ostrogotha,  Argaith,  and  Guntherich,  A.D. 
245.  Ostrogotha  subsequently  became  a  powerful  monarch. 
Fastida,  the  great  Vandal  king,  rendered  insolent  by  his  vic- 
tories over  the  Burgundians,  insisted  upon  the  partition  of 
the  kingdom  of  Ostrogotha,  who  vainly  represented  the  folly 
of  the  demand,  and  advised  him  to  beware  of  attacking  his 
brethren,  but  Fastida,  deaf  to  reason,  persisted  in  his  ambi- 
tious schemes,  and  was  overthrown. 

A  formidable  Gothic  army  under  Cniva  now  invaded 
Msesia,  A.D.  250,  defeated  the  Romans  in  a  great  battle  at 
Bersea,  and  took  possession  of  Philippopolis,  where  100,000 
men  were  put  to  the  sword.  During  their  march  toward 
Greece,  the  emperor  Decius  fell  upon  their  rear  and  at- 
tempted to  cut  them  off ;  a  fierce  struggle  ensued,  in  which 
Cniva  proved  victorious.  The  emperor  and  his  son  were 
drowned  in  a  lake,  and  Gallus,  his  successor,  bribing  him 
to  make  peace  by  the  payment  of  a  large  sum  of  money,  the 
Gothic  chief  departed,  laden  with  booty.  In  258,  several 
hordes,  under  different  chiefs,  crossed  the  Black  Sea,  and 
after  plundering  and  destroying  the  cities  of  Asia  Minor, 
returned  to  their  country;  and,  reappearing  the  following 
year,  A.D.  259,  stormed  and  sacked  the  city  of  Trapezus  by 
night.  The  cities  of  Nicsea  and  Nicomedia  were  burned  to 
the  ground  during  a  subsequent  incursion,  A.D.  260.  In  266 
they  again  crossed  the  Black  Sea,  under  Respa,  Veduco, 
Thuro,  and  Bato,  and  overran  the  whole  of  Asia  Minor, 
plundering  and  devastating  that  rich  and  fertile  country. 
On  their  return  home,  laden  with  booty,  they  were  attacked 


THE   MIGRATIONS  139 

in  the  Euxine  and  defeated  by  a  Roman  fleet.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year,  267,  a  numerous  horde,  under  King  Naulo- 
bates,  undertook  a  similar  expedition,  plundered  the  Asiatic 
coasts,  and  afterward  landed  in  Greece,  where  they  destroyed 
a  number  of  magnificent  cities.  Athens,  the  seat  of  ancient 
learning,  was  taken,  and  the  stupendous  collection  of  Greek 
books  contained  in  that  city  was  on  the  point  of  being 
burned,  when  an  old  man,  rising  up,  advised  them  to  leave 
the  Greeks  all  their  books,  "for,"  said  he,  "so  long  as  they 
use  their  pens  with  so  much  diligence,  they  will  never  un- 
derstand the  use  of  their  swords. ' '  The  emperor  Gallienus, 
after  attacking  and  defeating  them  on  their  return  home 
overland,  entered  into  alliance  with  them,  and  since  that 
period  the  Heruli  were  almost  constantly  engaged  in  the  im- 
perial service.  Two  years  later,  A.D.  269,  two  fresh  expedi- 
tions were  undertaken  by  the  Goths.  An  enormous  horde 
crossed  the  Black  Sea  with  6,000  ships,  and  landed  on  the 
banks  of  the  Danube,  whence,  being  forced  to  retreat  by  the 
Romans,  they  sailed  into  the  Archipelago,  and  laid  waste 
the  whole  of  Greece ;  but,  when  attempting  to  return  over- 
land to  the  Danube,  they  encountered  the  emperor  Claudius, 
and  being  defeated  at  Naissus,  took  refuge  on  Mount  Hcemus, 
where,  hemmed  in  on  every  side,  they  fell  victims  to  hunger 
and  pestilence.  Another  horde,  after  coasting  along  Asia 
Minor,  landed  in  Cyprus,  spreading  desolation  wherever  they 
appeared,  and  destroying  all  the  cities.  It  was  by  them  that 
the  celebrated  ancient  temple  of  Diana  at  Ephesus,  reckoned 
one  of  the  seven  wonders  of  the  world,  was  burned.  On 
their  return  home  through  Greece  they  were  also  cut  to 
pieces.  These  considerable  losses  for  some  time  checked  the 
inroads  of  the  Goths;*  and  several  warlike  emperors  succes- 
sively mounting  the  throne,  who  personally  conducted  the 
war  on  the  Danube,  they  were  compelled  to  remain  within 
their  own  limits.  Aurelian,  whose  wars,  although  probably 
some  of  the  most  remarkable  that  took  place,  are  only  lightly 
mentioned  in  history,  gained  several  signal  victories  over 
them.  While  the  Goths,  as  usual,  made  an  incursion  into 


140  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

Greece,  the  Marcomanni  and  Vandali  invaded  Italy;  the 
former  were  defeated  with  immense  slaughter  by  Aurelian  in 
Hungary ;  the  latter,  meanwhile,  advanced  as  far  as  Milan, 
and  caused  such  terror  in  Rome  that  extraordinary  human 
sacrifices  were  offered,  in  order  to  appease  the  anger  of  the 
gods.  Aurelian  overtook  the  enemy  at  Placentia,  where  he 
suffered  a  defeat;  but  the  Romans,  whose  courage  rose  with 
the  danger,  fought  on  subsequent  occasions  with  such  in- 
trepidity, that  after  winning  the  battles  of  Fano  and  Pavia 
they  forced  the  Marcomanni  to  retreat.  Aurelian 's  triumph 
was  graced  with  singular  trophies;  besides  the  car  of  a 
Gothic  king,  drawn  by  six  stags,  there  were  several  Ama- 
zons, who  had  been  captured  sword  in  hand,  among  whom 
the  youthful  Hunilda,  celebrated  among  the  Romans  for  her 
wit,  was  particularly  distinguished.  She  afterward  became 
the  wife  of  a  man  of  rank  named  Bonosus,  who,  aided  by 
the  Goths,  aspired  to  the  imperial  throne,  and,  on  discov- 
ering the  inutility  of  his  attempt,  deprived  himself  of  life. 
Aurelian  owed  his  victories  over  the  Goths  to  his  German 
mercenaries,  chiefly  Franks,  some  of  whose  generals  are 
mentioned  by  name,  Hartmund,  Haldegast,  Hildomann, 
Cariovist.  The  emperor  Probus  watched  the  Danube  as 
carefully  as  the  Rhine,  refortified  the  banks  of  both  rivers, 
and  introduced  the  vine  into  Hungary.  The  emperor  Gale- 
rius  valiantly  opposed  the  Goths,  and  Constantine  the  Great 
did  not  belie  the  cunning  he  had  practiced  on  the  Rhine,  by 
his  conduct  toward  them.  "When  defeated  and  forced  to 
seek  safety  by  flight  by  their  king  Ararich,  he  incited  the 
Slavonian  Sarmatians  against  them,  A.D.  331 ;  but  his  proj- 
ect being  foiled  by  the  sudden  revolt  of  the  Slavi  against 
their  own  nobles,  whom  they  had  no  Sooner  driven  out  of 
the  country  than  they  concluded  peace  with  the  Germans, 
he  induced  the  Vandals  to  attack  the  Goths,  and  upon  the 
defeat  of  their  king  Vidumar  by  Geberich,  the  successor  of 
Ararich,  he  took  them  under  his  protection  and  employed 
them  in  his  service.  At  Constantinople,  the  new  capital  of 
the  eastern  empire,  there  were  no  less  than  40,000  Varin- 


THE   MIGRATIONS  141 

gians,  or  mercenaries,  in  his  pay.  Among  the  countless 
Roman  prisoners  carried  by  the  Goths  into  the  interior  of 
their  country,  were  several  Christians,  who  succeeded  in 
converting  a  great  part  of  the  people  to  Christianity.  The 
Goths  in  the  imperial  service  were  also,  for  the  most  part, 
Christians;  and  when,  on  the  conversion  of  Constantino, 
that  religion  was  established  throughout  the  empire,  a  grand 
convocation  of  the  whole  of  the  Christian  clergy  was  held  at 
Nice,  in  which  the  Catholic  Church  was  recognized  as  the 
only  true  one,  A.D.  325. 

Several  Gothic  bishops,  present  at  this  assembly,  opposed 
this  decision,  from  a  conviction  of  the  incompatibility  of 
Catholicism  with  the  pure  doctrine  of  the  Saviour. 

LIX.    The  Great  Empire  of  Hermanarich — Origin  of 

the  Huns 

PEACE  was  no  sooner  established  with  Rome  than  inter- 
nal feuds  broke  out  among  the  Germans.  The  Ostrogoths 
under  Ararich  and  Geberich  had  already  subjugated  the 
Burgundians,  Alani,  Vandals,  and  Gepidse.  Geberich's  suc- 
cessor, Hermanarich  (the  royal  family  of  the  Ostrogoths  was 
called  the  Amali — the  immaculate?),  also  subdued  the  Heruli 
and  several  Slavonian  tribes,  besides  including  the  Visigoths 
beneath  his  rule,  although  Athanarich,  their  prince  or  judge, 
was  permitted  to  retain  something  of  his  independence,  and 
was  a  viceroy  rather  than  a  subject.  The  empire  of  Her- 
manarich spread  from  the  Baltic  to  the  Black  Sea,  and  this 
great  king,  of  whom  there  unfortunately  exists  but  a  very 
meager  account,  entered  into  an  alliance  with  Rome,  and 
carried  his  victorious  arms  far  to  the  northeast ;  the  treaty 
being  alone  infringed  by  Athanarich,  who  waged  a  three 
years'  war  against  the  emperor  Valens,  whose  rival,  Proco- 
pius,  was  supported  by  the  Visigoths.  When  Hermanarich 
was  very  old,  his  empire  was  threatened  by  the  Huns,  an 
immense  swarm  of  misshapen  barbarians,  who  gradually 
advanced  from  the  depths  of  Asia  toward  Europe.  The 


142  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

Slavonian  tribes  took  advantage  of  the  opportunity  thus 
afforded  to  free  themselves  from  the  Gothic  yoke.  The 
prince  of  the  Roxolani  went  over  to  the  Huns,  and  his  wife 
Sanieth,  being,  by  Hermanarich's  command,  torn  to  pieces 
by  horses,  her  brothers  attempted  to  revenge  her  death  on 
the  aged  king,  whom  they  grievously  wounded,  but  did  not 
succeed  in  depriving  of  life,  and  who,  when  he  beheld  his 
kingdom  a  prey  to  discord  within,  and  threatened  by  the 
Huns  from  without,  when,  helpless  from  his  wounds  and 
the  infirmities  of  old  age,  he  was  no  longer  able  to  ward  off 
defeat,  voluntarily  put  an  end  to  his  existence  in  his  one 
hundred  and  tenth  year. 

The  Huns  (Monguls,  Calmucks,  wandering  shepherd 
tribes)  were  natives  of  the  north  of  Asia,  and  inhabited 
the  immense  steppes  lying  between  Russia  and  China. 
Divided  into  tribes  and  families,  and  unpossessed  of  either 
cities  or  houses,  they  wandered  from  place  to  place,  seeking 
pasturage  for  their  cattle,  and  dwelt  in  tents,  in  which  they 
also  stabled  their  horses.  From  being  constantly  on  horse- 
back, their  legs  were  weak  and  crooked.  They  were  short 
of  stature,  extremely  broad-shouldered,  with  strong  muscu- 
lar arms ;  had  coarse  protruding  lips,  small  flat  noses,  yellow 
complexions,  and  thick  short  necks ;  in  a  word,  they  were 
quite  as  hideous  as  the  Calmucks  of  the  present  day.  Their 
horrid  ugliness,  immense  numbers,  activity  on  horseback, 
and  skill  in  archery,  struck  terror  even  into  the  hearts  of 
the  brave  Goths,  who  deemed  them  the  descendants  of 
wicked  demons;  a  superstition  that  greatly  conduced  to 
their  success.  Hermanarich  had  no  sooner  taken  his  seat 
among  his  ancestors  in  "Walhalla  than  his  great  empire  was 
dissolved.  Part  of  the  Ostrogoths  remained  faithful  to  his 
son  Hunimund,  while  the  rest  raised  Winithar  to  the  throne. 
The  pagan  Visigoths  attached  themselves  to  Athanarich, 
who  belonged  to  the  ancient  race  of  the  Balti,  but  those 
who  had  embraced  Christianity  were  ruled  by  their  dukes 
Fridigern  and  Alavius  (Olaf).  Dissension,  meanwhile,  pre- 
vailed. Athanarich,  accusing  the  Christian  Goths  of  having 


THE  MIGRATIONS  143 

abandoned  the  ancient  manners  and  customs  of  Germany  for 
those  of  Rome,  fanatically  persecuted  them,  and,  on  one  oc- 
casion, had  an  idol  carried  in  procession  before  their  houses, 
and  put  all  those  to  death  who  refused  to  fall  down  and 
worship  it. 

Balamir,  the  great  prince  of  the  Huns,  overcame  Huni- 
mund  and  marched  against  Winithar,  who,  after  twice  de- 
feating him,  fell  in  a  third  engagement,  and  the  Ostrogoths 
were  constrained  to  fly.  Part  of  them  subsequently  sub- 
mitted to  the  Hun,  who  had  married  the  beautiful  Walda- 
mara,  the  widow  of  Winithar,  whose  son  Widerich,  together 
with  Alatheus  and  Saphrax,  two  Ostrogothic  chiefs,  assem- 
bled the  remnant  of  the  people  and  fled.  The  Visigoths, 
who  had  beheld  the  defeat  of  their  brethren  unmoved,  per- 
ceived, when  too  late,  the  danger  to  which  their  supineness 
exposed  them,  but  boldly  and  resolutely  taking  the  field, 
marched  in  a  body  to  oppose  the  passage  of  the  Huns  across 
the  Dniester;  the  enemy,  however,  crossing  the  river  at  an- 
other point,  surrounded  and  defeated  them,  and  they  were 
driven  behind  the  Pruth,  where,  for  some  time,  they  val- 
iantly defended  themselves  behind  a  long  wall  which  they 
had  hastily  thrown  up;  but,  at  length,  finding  opposition 
futile,  they  severally  dispersed ;  Fridigern  and  Alavius  seek- 
ing refuge  within  the  Roman  frontier,  while  Athanarich, 
who  viewed  the  Romans  as  the  hereditary  foes  of  his  coun- 
try and  despised  them  on  account  of  their  being  Christians, 
and  who,  moreover,  had  taken  a  solemn  oath  to  his  father 
never  to  set  his  foot  on  Roman  ground,  took  shelter  in  the 
valleys  of  Transylvania. 

LX.   Migration  of  the  Goths  into  the  Roman  Empire 

ON  reaching  the  Danube,  Fridigern  and  Alavius  sent 
Ulphilas  (Wolflein,  little  wolf),  the  pious  and  learned 
Gothic  bishop,  to  entreat  the  emperor  Valens  for  land  on 
the  Roman  side  of  the  Danube,  as  an  asylum  from  the 
Huns.  This  bishop  was  the  first  translator  of  the  Bible 


144  THE   HISTORY    OF   GERMANY 

into  German.  Part  of  this  translation  is  still  extant,  and 
forms  a  curious  record  of  the  ancient  Gothic  language  and 
state  of  civilization.1  He  persuaded  the  emperor  to  allow 
the  Goths  to  pass  the  frontier,  on  the  ground  of  its  being 
far  more  dangerous  to  repel  them  by  force ;  and  his  consent 
was  at  length  gained,  on  condition  of  their  delivering  up 
their  arms,  and  regularly  paying  for  their  provisions.  The 
superintendent,  sent  for  this  purpose  to  the  Danube,  took 
advantage  of  their  blind  confidence  in  his  honesty  to  cheat 
them  in  every  way,  and,  when  their  money  was  spent,  de- 
prived them  of  their  beautiful  women  and  children;  in  his 
rapacity  overlooking  the  fact  that  a  great  number  of  the 
Goths  had,  in  their  impatience,  crossed  the  river  without 
yielding  up  their  arms.  Deceit,  ill-treatment,  and  the 
scanty  allowance  of  food,  ere  long  forced  them,  although 
the  greater  number  were  unarmed,  to  assume  a  threatening 
posture,  which  caused  the  Romans  to  concentrate  all  the 
forces  quartered  on  the  Danube  on  one  point.  "While  the 
banks  were  in  this  defenseless  state,  the  Ostrogoths  under 
Alatheus  and  Saphrax  arrived,  and  crossed  the  river  unques- 
tioned and  unopposed.  The  Visigoths  meanwhile  advanced 
as  far  as  the  great  city  of  Marcianople,  where  the  governor, 
Lupicinus,  invited  the  chiefs  to  a  banquet.  Their  prolonged 
absence  from  the  camp  caused  the  people  to  suspect  foul  play, 
and  they  began  to  storm  the  closed  gates  of  the  city,  upon 
which  the  treacherous  Roman  instantly  ordered  his  guests 
to  be  put  to  death.  In  this  strait,  Fridigern,  with  great  bold- 
ness and  presence  of  mind,  calmly  represented  to  him  that, 
if  he  and  his  companions  were  murdered,  the  city  would  in- 

1  The  so-called  Codex  Argenteus,  an  old  Gothic  translation  of  the  Gospels, 
written  in  silver  characters  on  a  purple  ground,  now  preserved  at  Upsala  in 
Sweden,  where  it  was  brought  in  1 648  by  General  Konigsmark,  who  had  stolen 
it  from  Prague.  It  came  originally  from  the  monastery  of  Werden,  to  which  it 
had  probably  been  presented  by  some  munificent  Frankish  chief,  and  doubtless 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Franks  when  they  seized  the  empire  of  the  Visigoths. 
The  only  question  is,  whether  it  is  the  genuine  translation  of  Ulphilas.  That 
he  translated  the  Bible  is  most  certain.  Still,  may  not  the  silver  characters  be 
the  invention  of  some  other  translator,  and  date  about  two  centuries  later?  It 
is  possible ;  but  the  fame  of  Ulphilas  warrants  its  being  at  least  a  strict  imita- 
tion of  the  original  work. 


THE   MIGRATIONS  145 

evitably  be  destroyed  by  their  avenging  countrymen,  but 
that,  if  they  were  set  at  liberty,  they  would  quickly  be  ap- 
peased. These  reasons  induced  Lupicinus  to  allow  them  to 
quit  the  city,  and  Fridigern,  true  to  his  word,  caused  the 
Goths  to  retire.  But  suspicion  and  enmity  had  now  re- 
placed their  former  confidence,  and  they  found  themselves 
abandoned  to  misery  and  want.  The  Romans  repented  of 
having  permitted  the  entrance  of  such  a  numerous  horde 
into  their  territory.  Lupicinus  at  length  resolved  to  have 
recourse  to  arms,  and  marching  with  his  whole  force  against 
them,  suffered  a  complete  defeat.  This  victory  placed  the 
country  at  the  mercy  of  the  Goths,  who  seized  the  weapons 
and  the  produce  of  the  land.  The  Ostro  and  Visi-Goths 
united  in  one  body,  and  were  joined  by  the  Varingi,  or 
Gothic  mercenaries,  who  had  been  in  the  Roman  service 
since  the  time  of  Constantine,  and  were  commanded  by 
Sueridus  and  Colias.  They  had  been  quartered  at  Adria- 
nople,  and  the  Romans,  apprehending  their  desertion,  in- 
tended to  have  sent  them  to  Asia  Minor,  but  impolitically 
refusing  the  payment  of  their  arrears,  they  quitted  the  im- 
perial service  and  went  over  to  their  countrymen.  The  in- 
habitants of  Mount  Hoemus,  and  the  rest  of  the  population 
who  groaned  beneath  the  heavy  Roman  yoke,  hailed  the 
Goths  as  their  deliverers,  joyfully  guided  them  through  the 
country,  and  delivered  up  to  them  the  concealed  treasure 
and  provisions.  Their  further  advance  was  impeded  by  the 
city  of  Adrianople,  which  long  withstood  the  attack  of  as- 
sailants ignorant  of  the  mode  of  besieging  fortified  places. 
"While  they  were  thus  engaged,  the  emperor  Valens  returned 
from  the  Persian  war,  at  the  head  of  a  great  army,  strength- 
ened by  innumerable  Frankish  auxiliaries  under  Richomer, 
Mellobaudes,  and  Frigeridus.  Even  at  that  early  period  a 
hatred  existed  between  the  Franks  and  the  Saxons,  which 
until  very  lately  remained  unabated.  Valens  and  the  Franks 
were  at  first  victorious,  but  when  the  defeated  Goths  entered 
into  an  alliance  with  the  Alani  and  the  Huns,  who,  at  that 
juncture,  poured  across  the  Danube,  an  engagement  such  as 
GERMANY.  VOL.  I. — 7 


146  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

Europe  had  never  before  witnessed,  in  which  a  million  of 
men  strove,  took  place  on  the  plains  of  Adrianople.  The 
Roman  army  was  completely  annihilated,  and  Valens,  who 
had  been  carried  wounded  into  a  hut,  was  there  burned  to 
death,  9th  August,  378.  The  Romans,  burning  to  revenge 
their  defeat,  now  collected  their  whole  force,  and  simultane- 
ously murdered  all  the  Goths  that  remained  in  Asia  Minor, 
whether  Varingians  or  private  individuals.  Theodosius  the 
Great,  the  newly-elected  emperor,  a  mighty  warrior  at  the 
head  of  a  numerous  and  exasperated  army,  aided  by 
the  Franks  under  Bauto  and  Arbogastes,  wiped  off  the 
disgrace  that  had  befallen  the  Roman  arms  in  the  plains 
of  Adrianople  by  several  brilliant  victories,  and  chased  the 
invading  hordes  across  the  Danube,  where  they  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  merciless  Huns.  In  the  confusion  of  the 
time,  the  brave  Fridigern,  who,  until  then,  had  kept  the 
Goths  united,  is  lost  sight  of;  and  the  aged  Athanarich  was 
induced  to  quit  his  forest  abode  in  order  to  form  a  rallying 
point  for  his  dispersing  countrymen.  The  Huns,  whom  a 
part  of  the  Ostrogoths  had  already  joined,  appeared  to  him 
more  dangerous  than  the  Romans,  and,  forgetful  of  his  oath, 
he  sought  an  alliance  with  the  latter,  and  strove  to  assemble 
all  the  Visigoths  within  their  territory ;  a  proposal  gladly  as- 
sented to,  as,  by  this  means,  the  Visigoths  became  a  bulwark 
against  the  Huns.  Theodosius  treated  Athanarich  with  great 
honor,  gave  him  a  magnificent  palace  at  Constantinople,  and, 
at  his  death,  which  took  place  soon  after  these  events,  fol- 
lowed the  aged  warrior  to  his  grave.  The  greater  part  of 
the  Visigoths  remained  in  Greece  in  close  alliance  with  the 
Romans,  and  were  again  formed  into  a  corps  of  mercenaries 
or  Varingians,  commanded  by  their  own  chiefs,  and  gov- 
erned by  their  own  laws.  Capable  of  a  higher  degree  of 
cultivation  than  the  other  German  tribes,  they  ere  long  ac- 
quired all  that  was  elevated  and  refined  in  the  Roman  man- 
ners, without  becoming  enervated  by  luxury  or  losing  their 
natural  nobility  of  character,  and  were  consequently  so  highly 
esteemed  by  the  Romans  as  to  be  preferred,  on  account  of 


THE   MIGRATIONS  147 

their  capacity,  to  the  highest  offices  of  state.  The  Roman 
historians  of  that  time  even  acknowledge  that  the  Germans 
were  deemed  men,  and  the  Romans  women.  Their  influ- 
ence even  extended  to  dress.  The  fops  of  that  period  wore 
a  light-colored  wig,  and  the  Roman  senators  did  not  disdain 
to  adopt  the  Gothic  furs  in  the  place  of  the  ancient  toga. 
Saul,  Gainas  and  Alaric  are  mentioned  as  warriors  serving 
in  the  imperial  army,  whose  prowess  gained  the  important 
victory  over  Eugenius,  the  rival  emperor,  the  traitor  Arbo- 
gastes,  and  the  Franks.  Christianity  received  a  fresh  im- 
pulse through  the  alliance  of  the  Goths  with  Rome.  Fritigil, 
a  prince  of  the  Marcomanni,  visited  Milan,  during  the  reign 
of  Theodosius,  in  order  to  see  St.  Ambrose,  the  archbishop. 
The  Ostro-Gothic  Gruthungri,  who  had  retreated  across  the 
Danube  under  Alatheus  and  Saphrax,  alone  refused  to  come 
to  terms,  and  again  making  an  incursion  for  the  purpose  of 
plunder,  were  defeated  and  driven  back  by  Theodosius. 
Alatheus  fell  on  the  field  of  battle. 

The  position  of  the  empire,  and  the  double  danger  to 
which  it  was  exposed  from  the  Danube  and  the  Rhine,  con- 
vinced Theodosius  the  Great  of  the  expediency  of  dividing 
the  government,  and  he  accordingly  willed  that  the  empire 
should  be  divided  after  his  death,  which  happened  in  395, 
between  his  sons,  Honorius  and  Arcadius,  the  former  of 
whom  reigned  at  Rome  as  Emperor  of  the  West,  and  the 
latter  at  Constantinople  as  Emperor  of  the  East. 

LXI.  Alaric 

MANY  of  the  Gothic  chiefs  in  the  Roman  empire  raised 
themselves  to  high  distinction,  more  particularly  Alaric,  a 
descendant  of  the  Balti,  who,  on  being  elected  king  by  the 
majority  of  the  Visigoths,  instantly  planned  the  most  dar- 
ing enterprises,  and,  suddenly  invading  Greece,  plundered 
and  destroyed  the  most  considerable  cities,  A.D.  396,  sparing 
Athens  alone,  owing  to  a  superstitious  notion  that  he  beheld 
Pallas,  the  patroness  of  the  city,  standing  before  the  gates 


148  THE    HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

Arcadius  being  unable  to  oppose  him,  Honorius  sent  Stilico, 
a  Vandal  (who  had  been  raised  by  Theodosius  to  the  highest 
dignities  of  state),  to  his  assistance,  who  succeeded  in  inclos- 
ing Alaric  within  the  mountains  of  the  Peloponnesus,  but 
afterward  allowed  him  to  retreat  from  a  desire  of  injuring 
Arcadius.  A  bitter  jealousy  had  arisen  between  the  eastern 
and  western  empires,  of  which  Alaric  skillfully  took  advan- 
tage, and  fixed  himself  in  Illyria,  where,  placed  between 
Rome  and  Constantinople,  he  lost  no  opportunity  of  promot- 
ing his  own  interest  in  both  quarters.  At  this  time  another 
Goth,  named  Gainas,  who  had  gained  considerable  power 
in  Constantinople,  and  was  plotting  the  seizure  of  the  im- 
perial crown,  happening  to  absent  himself  on  a  recruiting 
expedition,  the  Romans  suddenly  attacked  and  murdered 
all  the  Goths  in  the  city,  and  Gainas  being  discomfited  by 
another  Gothic  army  under  Frajuta,  that  remained  faithful 
to  the  imperial  standard,  fled  across  the  Danube,  and  fell 
into  the  hands  of  Uldes,  prince  of  the  Huns,  who  put  him 
to  death.  Shortly  after  this  event,  Alaric  undertook  a  great 
invasion  of  Italy,  and  at  the  head  of  numerous  German  tribes 
and  of  his  aUies,  the  Alemanni,  fell  upon  Aquileia,  A.D.  400, 
while  Stilico  was  engaged  in  withdrawing  all  the  troops  from 
Gaul  in  order  to  oppose  him;  but,  notwithstanding  his  exer- 
tions, Alaric,  who  continually  received  encouragement  from 
Constantinople,  pressed  gradually  onward.  During  the  sol- 
emnization of  Easter  festival  at  Pollentia,  the  Goths  were 
suddenly  attacked  by  Stilico,  and  a  battle  ensued,  in  which 
Goth  opposed  Goth,  A.D.  403,  and  Saul  lost  his  life  fighting 
on  the  Roman  side  at  the  head  of  his  mercenaries  A  sec- 
ond and  not  less  bloody  engagement  took  place  at  Verona, 
when  Alaric,  being  forced  to  retreat,  was  again  shut  up  in 
the  mountains  by  Stilico,  who  once  more  allowed  him  to 
make  terms. 

Radagais,  at  the  head  of  an  enormous  horde  of  pagan 
Alemanni  and  other  German  tribes,  now  rushed  from  the 
Upper  Danube  over  the  Alps,  A.D.  405,  swearing  to  offer 
all  the  blood  of  the  Romans  in  one  great  libation  to  his  gods, 


THE   MIGRATIONS  149 

and  advanced  as  far  as  the  Apennines,  where,  hemmed  in 
by  the  whole  army  of  Stilico  (who,  by  skillful  treaties  and 
promises,  had  succeeded  in  combining  beneath  his  standard 
the  Huns  under  Uldes,  and  a  Gothic  force  under  Sarus),  he 
and  his  followers  were  destroyed  by  famine,  pestilence,  and 
the  sword,  near  Fiesole  in  Tuscany.  Alaric  did  not  long 
remain  quiet.  Stilico,  his  brave  opponent,  accused  by  Ho- 
norius  of  carrying  on  a  secret  understanding  with  him,  and 
even  of  grasping  at  the  purple,  was  put  to  death,  together 
with  the  wives  and  children  of  30,000  Germans  in  his  ser- 
vice. The  payment  of  the  tribute,  which  had  been  agreed 
to  at  the  treaty  of  peace,  was  also  refused,  and  Alaric,  burn- 
ing for  revenge,  quickly  seized  the  favorable  moment  afforded 
for  the  long-planned  conquest  of  Italy,  by  the  destruction  of 
Rome's  best  general;  and  being  joined  by  the  30,000  widow- 
ers, marched  straight  upon  the  imperial  city,  whose  posses- 
sion he  deemed  would  secure  to  him  that  of  the  whole  of 
Italy,  leaving  Honorius,  to  his  rear,  shut  up  in  Ravenna. 
Terror-struck  and  helpless,  the  Romans  entreated  for  peace, 
which  was  granted  by  the  invader  on  the  payment  of  5,000 
pounds'  weight  of  gold,  30,000  pounds'  weight  of  silver,  and 
a  proportionate  quantity  of  the  costly  articles  of  commerce 
which,  at  that  period,  flowed  into  Rome  from  every  quarter 
of  the  known  world.  Entreaties  were  unavailing.  "What 
will  be  left  us?"  asked  they.  "Life,"  was  the  stern  reply. 
"We  are  still  numerous,"  they  threatened.  "Then  come 
out,"  rejoined  the  Goth,  "the  thicker  the  hay  the  easier  it 
is  to  mow!"  The  terms  were  enforced;  the  golden  statue 
of  Victory  was  melted  to  meet  the  demand,  and  the  Romans, 
who  still  retained  their  heathen  superstitions,  foresaw  in  its 
destruction  the  impending  ruin  of  their  city.  Satisfied  with 
the  booty  thus  gained,  Alaric  now  left  Rome  in  order  to  at- 
tack Ravenna,  and  conferred  the  imperial  dignity  on  one 
Attalus,  whom  he  sent  to  Africa  to  prepare  for  his  arrival 
in  that  country,  and  whom  he  afterward  deposed  for  hav- 
ing, aided  by  the  Romans  by  whom  he  was  accompanied, 
attempted  to  assert  his  own  independence.  Honorius  was 


150  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

aided  in  the  defense  of  Ravenna,  which  was  well  fortified, 
by  a  part  of  the  Goths  under  Sarus,  the  hereditary  enemy 
of  the  Balti;  Alaric,  meanwhile,  ruled  unopposed  in  the 
open  country,  and  after  annihilating  the  last  Roman  army, 
united  his  forces  with  those  of  Ataulph,  his  son-in-law,  who 
had  brought  fresh  tribes  from  Germany;  but  failing  in  his 
attempts  against  Ravenna,  he  resolved  to  wreak  full  ven- 
geance upon  Rome.  He  is  said  to  have  presented  three 
hundred  youths  to  the  wealthiest  Romans  for  slaves,  who 
secretly  opened  the  city  gates  to  him;  but,  however  that 
may  be,  it  is  certain  that  he  took  Rome  by  storm  during 
the  night  of  the  24th  of  August,  409.  For  the  first  time 
since  the  invasion  of  Brennus,  the  capital  of  the  ancient 
world  beheld  the  enemy,  who  had  so  often  been  led  in  tri- 
umph through  her  walls,  enchained,  thrown  to  the  wild 
beasts  in  her  amphitheater,  or  doomed  to  cruel  slavery,  now 
appear  as  a  bloody  and  inflexible  conqueror,  armed  with  the 
sword  of  vengeance,  repaying  all  the  crimes  committed  by 
her  against  the  liberties  of  nations,  which,  unatoned  by  her 
first  punishment,  were  afterward  bitterly  visited  upon  her. 
Yet,  although  murder  and  pillage  filled  the  city,  Rome  was 
not  destroyed,  and  the  defenseless  ones  were  spared.  A 
Goth,  who  discovered  some  valuable  golden  vessels  in  the 
house  of  a  pious  maiden,  when  told  that  they  had  been  left 
with  her  for  safety  and  belonged  to  the  church  of  St.  Peter, 
left  them  untouched,  and  gave  information  of  the  discovery 
to  the  other  Goths,  who  came  in  multitudes  to  the  spot,  and 
bore  the  golden  ornaments  in  a  solemn  procession,  in  which 
the  people  joined,  to  St.  Peter's:  the  war-cry  ceased;  the 
voices  of  the  conquerors  and  conquered  rose  in  unison,  and 
the  pillage  terminated  in  hymns  of  devotion.1  Leaving 
Rome,  Alaric  marched  into  Lower  Italy  with  the  intention 
of  visiting  Africa,  but  his  fleet  was  wrecked  off  Messina, 


1  When  Honorius  was  told  at  Ravenna  that  Roma  was  lost,  he  gave  signs 
of  the  deepest  despair,  believing  that  a  pet  bird  of  his  called  Roma  was  alluded 
to,  and  was  instantly  consoled  on  discovering  that  it  was  merely  the  capital  of 
the  world. 


THE   MIGRATIONS  151 

and  he  died  suddenly,  in  his  fifty- fourth  year.  The  river 
Busentom  (Baseno)  was  diverted  from  its  course  by  prison- 
ers, and  the  Gothic  monarch  was  buried  with  an  immense 
treasure  in  its  bed ;  after  which,  the  stream  was  restored  to 
its  natural  course,  and  the  secret  of  his  burial-place,  which 
remained  as  unknown  as  the  projects  that  died  with  him, 
was  sealed  by  the  murder  of  the  laborers. 

LXII.   The  Vandals,  Alani,  Suevi,  and  Visigoths 
in  Spain 

AFTER  the  destruction  of  Radagais,  the  tribes  from  which 
his  army  had  been  raised,  instead  of  invading  Italy,  moved 
toward  Gaul,  whence  the  troops  had  been  withdrawn.  The 
Vandals  under  Godegisel,  the  Alani  under  Respendial,  and 
a  horde  of  Suevi  under  Hermanarich,  crossed  the  Rhine  dur- 
ing the  last  days  of  the  year  407,  never  to  return,  and,  after 
plundering  Gaul  for  some  time  and  unsuccessfully  combat- 
ing the  Franks,  suddenly  traversed  the  Pyrenees  and  entered 
Spain,  where  they  were  well  received.  The  Basci,  a  rem- 
nant of  the  ancient  Celts,  and  the  Iberi  in  the  mountains, 
offered  no  opposition,  preferring  poverty  and  freedom  be- 
neath the  German  rule  to  the  splendid  tyranny  of  Rome. 
The  Vandals  under  Gunderich,  the  successor  of  Godegisel, 
ruled  at  Hispalis  (Seville),  and  gave  name  to  the  province 
of  Andalusia.  The  Suevi  inhabited  Castile  and  Gallicia, 
and  the  Alani  settled  on  the  Ebro.  The  departure  of  these 
wild  tribes  from  Gaul  did  not,  however,  relieve  that  province 
from  the  horrors  of  war ;  a  new  emperor,  Constantino,  who 
had  set  himself  up  in  Britain,  crossed  the  Channel  and  was 
supported  by  the  Franks  under  Edobic,  in  opposition  to 
Sarus,  who,  aided  by  the  Alemanni  under  Goar,  and  by 
the  Burgundians  under  Gunthachar,  proclaimed  Jovinus 
emperor,  A.D.  412.  The  dispute  was  settled  by  Constantino 
being  deprived  of  his  throne  and  his  life. 

Honorius,  desirous  of  freeing  Italy  from  the  Visigoths, 
dexterously  seized  upon  these  events  as  a  pretext,  and  solic- 


152  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

ited  the  aid  of  Ataulph,  the  successor  of  -Alaric,  against  Jo- 
vinus,  flattering  him  with  the  possession'  of  Gaul  and  Spain 
if  he  would  quit  Italy;  but  the  strongest  motive  for  concil- 
iation between  the  Goth  and  the  emperor  was  the  passion 
cherished  by  Ataulph  for  Placidia,  Honorius's  beautiful  and 
talented  sister,  who  had  been  taken  prisoner  at  Rome  by 
Alaric;  he  accordingly  acceded  to  the  emperor's  proposal, 
and  abandoning  Italy  at  the  head  of  his  whole  nation, 
marched  against  Jovinus  and  Sarus,  whom  he  defeated; 
and,  after  taking  possession  of  the  south  of  Gaul  and  of  the 
north  of  Spain,  celebrated  his  nuptials  with  Placidia  at  Nar- 
bonne,  A.D.  414;  the  ceremony  being  performed  by  Sisegar, 
the  Gothic  bishop,  whom  the  king  also  appointed  preceptor 
to  his  children;  a  proof  of  the  civilization  to  which  the 
Goths  had  already  attained.  A  high  bed  was  constructed, 
around  which  all  the  booty  gained  by  Ataulph  and  his  late 
father-in-law,  Alaric,  was  heaped.  Attalus,  the  deposed  em- 
peror, who  was  in  his  suite,  composed  songs  for  the  occasion, 
in  which  he  pointed  out  to  him  the  events  that  might  possi- 
bly result  from  the  union  of  the  mightiest  of  the  German 
princes  with  the  sister  of  the  Caesars,  and  the  foundation  of 
a  new  Gothic-Roman  empire  on  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  one 
was  consequently  projected.  But  the  time  had  not  yet  ar- 
rived, and  it  happened  as  was  prophesied  by  Daniel:  "In 
the  end  of  years  they  shall  join  themselves  together ;  for  the 
king's  daughter  of  the  south  shall  come  to  the  king  of  the 
north  to  make  an  agreement;  but  she  shall  not  retain  the 
power  of  her  arm,  neither  shall  he  stand,  nor  his  arm :  but 
she  shall  be  given  up,  and  they  that  brought  her,  and  he 
that  begat  her,  and  he  that  strengthened  her  in  these  times," 
ohap.  xi.  6.1  A  forest  known  as  la  selva  Gothesca  now  cov- 
ers the  site  of  the  ancient  city  of  Heraclea,  in  the  south  of 
Prance,  where  Ataulph  and  Placidia  held  their  splendid 
court.  The  Goth,  Sarus,  having  been  cruelly  put  to  death 

1  According  to  Bishop  Newton,  this  prophecy  relates  to  the  marriage  of 
Berenice,  the  daughter  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  the  second  king  of  Egypt,  with 
Antiochus  Theus,  the  third  king  of  Syria. — Trans. 


THE   MIGRATIONS  153 

by  Ataulph,  Dubios,  a  servant  of  the  former,  probably  in- 
cited by  Sigerich,  the  brother  of  Sarus,  murdered  him  at 
Barcelona,  A.D.  415.  Sigerich  usurped  the  Gothic  throne, 
and  exterminated  the  whole  race  of  the  Balti.  In  pursuance 
of  a  policy  completely  contrary  to  that  of  his  predecessor,  he 
broke  with  Rome,  perhaps  with  the  intention  of  flattering 
the  national  pride  of  the  Goths.  The  beautiful  Placidia  was 
sentenced  to  run  on  foot  for  twelve  miles  before  the  car  of 
the  usurper,  who  a  few  days  after  fell  by  the  hand  of  Wallia, 
whom  the  Goths  had  raised  to  the  throne,  and  who,  renew- 
ing the  alliance  with  Rome,  sent  Placidia  back  to  her  native 
country,  with  800,000  measures  of  wheat.  He  carried  on  a 
successful  war  in  Spain,  and  subdued  the  Alani,  whom  he 
incorporated  with  the  Goths,  which  gave  rise  to  the  Gothic- 
Alani  nation,  and  to  the  name  of  the  province  of  Catalonia. 
Toulouse  became  the  capital  of  the  Visigothic  empire  under 
Wallia,  who  left  an  only  daughter,  the  mother  of  the  cele- 
brated Ricimer,  who  was  closely  connected  with  the  family 
of  the  Czesars  (continued  by  Placidia,  who  married  Constan- 
tius,  and  gave  birth  to  the  emperor  Valentinian  the  Third, 
and  to  the  infamous  Honoria).  The  brave  Theodorich,  who 
succeeded  Wallia  as  king  of  the  Goths,  greatly  extended  his 
dominions,  and  defeated  Rechiar,  the  king  of  the  Spanish 
Suevi,  but  met  with  a  powerful  opponent  in  -<32tius  the  Ro- 
man general,  who  attempted  to  reconquer  Gaul.  Aries  and 
Narbonne  were  vainly  besieged  by  Theodorich,  who,  after  a 
long  war,  was  finally  obliged  to  league  with  Rechiar  against 
their  common  and  far  more  formidable  enemy,  the  Hun. 

In  the  south  of  Spain,  the  Vandals  bade  defiance  to  the 
attacks  of  both  Goths  and  Romans,  and  rose  to  considerable 
importance  under  Geiserich,  the  brother  of  Gunderich.  Gei- 
serich  had  married  his  son  Hunerich  to  a  daughter  of  Theo- 
dorich, whom,  on  mere  suspicion,  he  deprived  of  her  nose 
and  ears,  and,  fearing  the  vengeance  of  the  Visigoths  for 
this  act  of  barbarity,  invited  the  Huns,  who  were  already 
on  their  way  thither,  into  Spain.  • 


154  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 


LXIII.   The  Alemanni  in  Switzerland — The  Burgun- 
dians  in  Alsace 

TRANQUILLITY  had  for  a  short  period  once  more  visited 
the  Alps,  and  ruins,  scattered  along  the  path  of  the  devas- 
tating hordes,  alone  remained  to  tell  the  tale  of  bygone 
splendor.  Helvetia  no  longer  existed ;  the  green  forest  waved 
over  heaps  that  were  once  cities,  while  the  Alemanni,  proud 
of  their  freedom,  fed  their  flocks,  and  built  their  scattered 
cottages,  in  the  sheltered  valleys.  Civilization  and  oppres- 
sion had  disappeared  with  the  Romans,  and  Christianity  was 
unknown  to  the  savage  Swabains,  who  remained  faithful  to 
their  ancient  religion  and  customs  in  the  new  settlement. 
The  lake  into  which  the  Rhine  flows  from  the  Alps  was 
probably  again  called  by  its  ancient  name,  the  Boden-see, 
from  Odin  (Wodan,  Buddha),  to  whom  a  place  of  worship 
was  erected  on  the  shore.  The  Thurgau  and  Frickthal,  from 
their  deities  Thor  and  Frigga,  lay  in  its  vicinity.  The  name 
of  the  Odenwald,  between  the  Maine  and  the  Neckar,  has  a 
similar  origin,  and  the  freedom  so  long  preserved  in  Switzer- 
land is  a  proof  that  ancient  German  liberty  co-existed  with 
paganism.  Independent  war-chiefs  or  dukes  also  appear  amid 
the  obscurity  of  those  times.  The  Alpine  countries  finally 
received  the  name  of  Schweiz  (Switzerland),  identical  with 
that  of  Suevi  or  Swabia,  whose  inhabitants  owned  the  same 
origin.  The  people  of  Schweiz,  Uri,  Unterwalden,  and  Hasli, 
have  a  tradition  of  their  having  been  driven  by  famine  out 
of  Sweden,  which  agrees  with  that  of  the  Longobardi,  and 
the  migration  of  the  Goths;  and  it  is  possible  that,  at  the 
period  of  the  commingling  of  different  tribes,  a  Gothic  or 
Longobardic  horde,  straying  among  these  mountains,  mixed 
with  the  Alemanni ;  or  perhaps  the  legend  has  been  clothed 
in  a  new  form,  and  originally  referred  to  the  earliest  immi- 
grations of  the  Suevi. 

The  Burgundians  (tribe  of  Bur?)  originally  dwelt  on 
the  Riesengebirge,  which  was  perhaps  also  an  Asenburg, 


THE   MIGRATIONS  155 

and  connected  the  Caucasus  with  the  north.  Forced  along 
by  the  advancing  Goths,  the  Burgundians  turned  toward 
the  west,  and  appeared  to  the  rear  of  the  Alemanni.  At  a 
later  period  they  joined  the  Vandali  (originally  Vindili),  and 
invaded  Gaul,  as  has  been  already  related,  when  Honorius, 
for  the  sake  of  peace,  finally  bestowed  upon  them  Alsace,  as 
a  fief  of  the  empire.  Immense  sacrificial  altars,  the  remains 
of  which  are  still  to  be  seen,  were  erected  by  them  on  the 
Odilienberg,  which  was  doubtless  sacred  to  Odin,  whose 
name  was  subsequently  changed  to  the  Christian  one  of 
Ottilia.  The  name  of  Worms,  which  the  Burgundians,  on 
reaching  the  southern  Alps,  renewed  in  that  of  the  city  of 
Bormio,  has  also  reference  to  the  ancient  deity,  Bor.  This 
comparatively  small  tribe  bore  a  high  traditionary  fame 
among  the  Germans,  and  holds  a  prominent  place  in  the 
songs  of  the  Nibelungen,  which  is  probably  owing  less  to  its 
later  history  than  to  the  religious  veneration  with  which  it 
was  anciently  regarded. 

LXIV.    The  Salic  Law 

IN  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  the  history  of  the 
Franks  took  a  new  and  important  turn ;  the  Roman  armies 
were  completely  driven  out  of  Gaul  by  Stilico,  and  the  coun- 
try fell  a  prey  to  the  Vandals,  Burgundians,  Alani,  and 
Suevi.  The  Franks,  in  order  not  to  remain  behindhand, 
took  possession  of  the  neighboring  lands  as  far  as  the  Mo- 
selle, and  divided  themselves  into  the  Salii  on  the  Moselle 
and  the  Meuse,  and  the  Ripuarii  on  the  Lower  Rhine.  All 
the  ancient  and  various  names  of  the  tribes  disappear  in 
these  two,  which  are  evidently  derived  from  the  Latin. 
Salii,  leapers,  from  saUre,  had  long  been  the  appellation 
of  the  Frankish  mercenaries  in  the  imperial  service ;  a  name 
not  at  all  in  unison  with  the  ancient  titles  and  nicknames  of 
the  Roman  legions  and  mercenary  troops.  The  Salii  were 
the  Franks  who  dwelt  nearest  to  the  Romans,  whom  they 
for  a  long  period  served,  and  who,  very  probably,  made  use 


156  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

of  this  name  for  the  sake  of  a  quibble,  which  may  first  of  all 
have  been  derived  from  the  Saal  (Yssel),  and  the  Saal-land 
(Ober-Yssel)  in  the  Netherlands,  where  the  Franks,  tribu- 
tary to  the  Romans,  formerly  dwelt.  It  has  also  been  de- 
duced from  the  Wurzburgian  Saalgau  (the  subsequent  Ostro- 
Franci),  and  even  from  the  Thuringian  Saal  (on  account  of 
the  ancient  connection  between  the  Thuringians  and  the 
Franks),  or  from  the  word  Saal,  a  hall  (Allod).  The  name 
of  the  Ripuarii  is  clearly  Latin,  from  ripa,  a  bank,  and  was 
the  general  appellation  of  the  Franks  who  dwelt  on  the 
banks  of  the  Rhine.  The  Salii,  who  affected  the  Roman 
party,  were  long  at  feud  with  the  Ripuarii,  who  were  more 
German  in  their  customs,  and  it  is  probable  that  at  that 
period  the  Bructeri,  Cherusci,  etc.,  tribes  that  dwelt  further 
eastward  toward  the  Weser,  and  that  were  formerly  ac- 
counted Franks,  formed  a  closer  connection  with  the  Saxons 
(with  whom  they  subsequently  intermingled),  when  forced 
to  defend  their  ancient  liberty  and  religion  against  the  des- 
potism and  zealous  Christian  proselytism  of  the  Franks. 
The  abandonment  of  Gaul  by  the  Romans  necessarily  occa- 
sioned a  great  change  in  the  affairs  of  that  country;  the 
Salii,  no  longer  supported  by  Rome,  became  independent, 
and  their  newly-acquired  possessions,  which  extended  as  far 
as  the  Moselle,  afforded  them  an  opportunity  for  remodeling 
their  government.  Long  accustomed  to  the  rule  of  a  war- 
chief,  and  well  acquainted  with  the  advantages  of  union,  as 
well  as  jealous  of  the  splendor  and  fame  of  the  great  king  of 
the  Goths,  *  they  elected  a  monarch  after  the  demise  of  Geno- 
bald,  Sunno,  and  Marcomir,  instead  of  continuing  to  be  gov- 
erned by  various  petty  and  independent  princes,  and  raised 
Faramund,  the  son  of  Marcomir,  to  the  throne,  A.D.  420. 
Before  submitting  to  the  authority  of  the  new  monarch,  they 
solemnly  guaranteed  their  ancient  privileges,  by  the  prescrip- 
tion of  certain  conditions,  whence  originated  the  Salic  law, 

1  Sigebert  of  Gemblours  says  plainly  that  they  wished  to  follow  the  example 
of  other  nations:  "Franci  in  communi  deliberant,  ut  et  ipsi  sicut  alias  gentes 
regnum  habeant." 


THE   MIGRATIONS  157 

which  was  drawn  up  in  writing.  Up  to  this  period,  the  laws 
had  been  merely  traditionary,  but  when  the  new  settlements 
within  the  Roman  territory  caused  a  wider  extension  of  the 
people,  ancient  customs  were  endangered  by  new,  their  priv- 
ileges seemed  likely  to  be  encroached  upon  by  the  monarch, 
and  a  written  code  became  necessary.  Four  elders,  chosen 
by  the  people,  were  intrusted  with  the  completion  of  this  im- 
portant work,  as  was  afterward  set  forth  in  the  preface  of 
Chi od wig,  appended  to  this  celebrated  code.  "The  renowned 
nation  of  the  Franks,  the  chosen  of  God,  strong  in  battle, 
wise  in  council,  mighty  by  their  union,  noble  and  virtuous, 
of  surpassing  stature,  bold,  vigorous,  and  firm,  caused  the 
Salic  law  to  be  drawn  up,  while  they  were  yet  pagans,  by 
the  chiefs  by  whom  they  were  at  that  period  governed.  Four 
men  were  chosen  from  among  the  elders,  named  Wysogast, 
Bodogast,  Salogast,  and  Windogast,  who  came  from  the 
countries  then  called  Salagheven,  Bodogheven,  and  Windo- 
gheven.  These  four  men  met  three  times  in  the  Malberg, 
weighed  the  origin  and  peculiarities  of  all  the  laws,  and  then 
laid  them  down  in  writing.  But  when,  the  long-haired,  beau- 
tiful Chlodwig,  the  first  of  the  Frankish  monarchs  who  re- 
ceived Catholic  baptism,  lived,  whatever  seemed  unfitting  in 
this  code  w.as  expunged.  Vivat  Christus,  who  chose  the 
Franks  unto  himself,  for  this  is  the  people  that,  by  its 
bravery  and  power,  cast  off  the  oppressive  yoke  of  Rome." 
Faramund  was  succeeded  by  Chlodis  (Louis),  whose  suc- 
cessor, Merowig,  was,  according  to  the  legendary  account, 
suckled  by  a  sea-monster,  which  attacked  his  mother  on  the 
shore.  Chlodis  introduced  the  custom  of  wearing  long  hair, 
which  afterward  became  a  sign  of  royalty,  and  was  adopted 
by  his  successors,  hence  named  the  long-haired  kings.  The 
descendants  of  Merowig  were  the  Merovingians. 

LXV.    Etzel 

ABOUT  this  period  a  powerful  leader  arose  among  the 
Huns,  who  was  named  by  the  Romans  Attila,  by  the  Ger- 


158  THE   HISTORY   OF    GERMANY 

mans,  Etzel ;  the  center  of  whose  kingdom  was  in  Hungary, 
where  his  throne  stood  in  an  enormous  wooden  palace.  He 
united  beneath  his  rule  not  only  all  the  Huns,  but  also  al' 
the  Ostro-Germanic  tribes.  The  Ostrogoths,  whose  history 
is  very  obscure  at  this  period,  were  forced  to  follow  their 
example.  They  were  governed  by  several  leaders,  and  were 
continually  at  war  with  the  Sarmatians  (Slavi).  Fidicola, 
one  of  their  princes,  had  been  defeated  by  the  Sarmatians 
shortly  before  the  appearance  of  Etzel,  in  whose  train  were 
Theodomir,  the  father  of  the  celebrated  Diettrich  of  Bern, 
Widimir  and  Walamir,  at  the  head  of  the  Ostrogoths,  and 
Ardarich,  king  of  the  Gepidae.  Etzel  was  one  of  those 
mighty  spirits,  who,  like  Caesar  and  Napoleon,  were  born 
to  captivate  every  heart,  to  rule  millions  with  a  glance,  and 
to  use  their  giant  strength  in  crushing  a  world.  Adored  by 
his  followers,  whom  he  led  to  victory,  and  a  chieftain  eagerly 
hailed  by  the  warlike  nations,  which,  habituated  to  battle 
and  long  estranged  from  their  homes,  were  inimical  to 
peace,  he  was  the  cruel  despoiler  of  all  who  opposed  his 
despotic  rule. 

Rome  trembled  at  the  approach  of  the  destroyer,  rightly 
termed  "The  scourge  of  God,"  who  seemed  destined  to 
mete  out  the  reward  of  the  crimes  accumulated  during  the 
thousand  years'  reign  of  the  ancient  mistress  of  the  world. 
The  Eastern  empire  first  suffered.  The  whole  of  Greece  was 
laid  waste,  and  Constantinople  was  alone  delivered  from  de- 
struction by  the  policy  of  Pulcheria,  the  mother  of  the  help- 
less emperor,  Theodosius,  who  bribed  the  Huns,  by  the  pay- 
ment of  an  immense  ransom,  to  spare  the  capital,  and  to 
turn  their  course  westward,  A.D.  451.  The  storm  now  burst 
upon  Germany.  Desolation,  rapine,  and  slaughter  marked 
its  advance  toward  Gaul.  Obscure  legendary  accounts  of 
the  horrors  of  that  period  are  still  extant.  All  the  relics  and 
jewels  belonging  to  the  Church,  still  in  its  infancy,  were 
saved  at  Andecks,  on  the  mountain,  from  the  rapacity  of 
the  invaders.  Wimpfen  owes  its  name  to  Wibpin  ( Weiber- 
pein,  women's  pain),  all  the  women  of  this  place  having 


THE  MIGRATIONS  159 

been  cruelly  murdered  by  Attila's  command,  and  several 
Hunnenberge,  Hunnengraben  (fortifications  against  the 
Huns),  are  still  to  be  met  with  in  Germany,  although  it  is 
uncertain  whether  they  ought  not  to  be  ascribed  to  the  Hun- 
garians of  later  date,  who  were  also  called  Huns.  History 
records  but  one  attempt  made  to  oppose  the  progress  of 
Attila  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine,  the  heroic  opposition 
of  10,000  Burgundians  under  Gunthachar,  who  fought  and 
fell  like  a  second  Leonidas.1  The  Franks  under  Merowig, 
and  the  Alani  under  Sangipfan,  vainly  strove  to  stem  the 
torrent,  and  all  the  nations  of  the  West,  Germans  and  Ro- 
mans, became  at  length  aware  that  a  great  general  confed- 
eracy could  alone  preserve  them  from  destruction.  Placidia, 
the  experienced  and  strong-minded  mother  of  the  weak  em- 
peror, Valentinian,  governed  Rome,  and  JEtius,  the  famous 
warrior,  then  commander- in-chief  of  the  Roman  forces,  col- 
lected the  remaining  strength  of  the  empire  and  entered 
Gaul,  where  he  was  joined  by  the  Visigoths  under  Theo- 
dorich,  the  Franks  under  Merowig,  and  the  remnant  of  the 
Alani.  Claudebald,  the  brother  of  Merowig,  went  over  to 
Etzel  with  a  part  of  the  Franks.  The  protracted  siege  of 


1  The  circumstances  attending  this  brilliant  action  are  unknown,  but  evidently 
form  the  groundwork  of  one  of  the  songs  of  the  Nibelungen,  in  which  they  have 
received  the  following  poetical  embellishment.  "Once  upon  a  time  there  lived 
a  handsome  Frankish  warrior  named  Siegfried,  or  the  Horned  Knight,  on  account 
of  his  whole  body,  with  the  exception  of  a  small  spot  on  his  back,  being  as  hard 
as  horn  and  perfectly  invulnerable.  This  knight  came  to  "Worms,  and  wooed 
and  won  the  beautiful  Chriemhilda,  the  sister  of  Gunthachar.  His  wonderful 
strength  and  dauntless  courage  soon  raised  the  jealousy  of  all  the  Burgundian 
knights,  and  one  of  them,  Hagen  the  Grim,  secretly  encouraged  by  the  king, 
murdered  him  (one  day  when  weary  with  following  the  chase,  as  he  stooped  to 
quench  his  thirst  at  a  brook)  by  running  his  sword  through  his  back.  Chriem- 
hilda, inconsolable  for  his  loss,  became  hateful  to  the  Burgundians,  who  refused 
to  restore  to  her  the  great  treasure  won  by  Siegfried  in  the  Netherlands,  and 
which  Hagen  sunk  in  the  Rhine,  where  it  still  lies.  Soon  after  this,  Etzel,  king 
of  the  Huns,  attracted  by  the  fame  of  her  great  beauty,  dispatched  ambassadors 
to  Worms  to  ask  her  in  marriage,  with  whom  she  returned  into  Hungary,  and 
was  made  queen.  But  her  heart  remained  constant  to  the  memory  of  Siegfried, 
and  demanded  vengeance.  Gunthachar,  his  brothers,  Hagen  the  Grim,  and  a 
crowd  of  Burgundian  nobles,  were  invited  to  the  court  of  Etzel,  where,  at  the 
instigation  of  the  queen,  they  were  put  to  the  sword  by  the  Huns  and  their  Ger- 
man allies,  headed  by  the  youthful  and  valiant  Dieterich,  the  Ostrogoth,  who 
afterward  filled  Europe  with  his  fame. 


160  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

Orleans,  which  was  desperately  defended  by  the  Romans, 
long  retarded  the  advance  of  the  invader.  At  length, 
pressed  by  famine,  the  garrison  resolved  to  capitulate,  if 
their  prayers  for  succor  were  unheard ;  but  before  the  prayer 
was  ended,  clouds  of  dust  appeared  on  the  horizon  annuncia- 
tory  of  the  approach  of  their  allies,  the  Visigoths,  and  Etzel 
was  compelled  to  retreat,  in  order  to  draw  up  his  innumer- 
able horse  near  Chalons,  on  the  broad  plains  of  the  Marne, 
where  the  nations  of  the  East  and  "West  arrayed  their 
forces,  and  stood  in  momentary  expectation  of  an  action  de- 
cisive of  the  fate  of  Europe.  Etzel  was  superior  in  the  num- 
bers, military  skill,  and  confidence  of  his  troops,  while  those 
of  his  opponents  were  inspired  by  the  memory  of  their  an- 
cient fame,  by  zeal  for  the  cause  of  Christianity,  and  by  the 
danger  which  threatened  their  freedom  and  their  homes.  In 
this  contest,  German  opposed  German,  with  the  deadliest 
hate;  consequently  whichever  side  might  prove  victorious, 
the  German  was  sure  to  suffer.  The  battle  at  length  com- 
menced on  both  sides,  with  equal  animosity.  The  death  of 
the  brave  Theodorich  was  bloodily  avenged  by  his  son, 
Thorismund,  and  the  Visigoths  gained  a  decisive  victory. 
After  losing  200,000  men,  Etzel  retreated  and  the  Western 
empire  was  saved.  An  enormous  funeral  pile,  composed  of 
horses'  saddles,  had  been  erected,  on  which  Etzel  had  in- 
tended to  burn  himself  alive,  if  unable  to  escape.  Thoris- 
mund, raised  on  his  reeking  shield,  was  proclaimed  king  of 
the  Visigoths  amid  the  shouts  of  the  victors.  But  prosperity 
speedily  severed  those  whom  adversity  had  united.  JEtius, 
jealous  of  the  glory  and  power  of  Thorismund,  drew  off  his 
troops,  and  persuaded  him  to  return  to  his  country,  giving 
him,  as  indemnity  for  the  anticipated  booty,  a  golden  charger, 
weighing  five  hundredweight,  set  with  precious  jewels,  sup- 
posed to  have  been  the  tablet  of  Solomon's  table,  taken  by  the 
Romans  from  the  celebrated  temple  at  Jerusalem. 

Etzel,  invited  by  Honoria,  the  sister  of  Valentinian,  who, 
for  having  offered  to  marry  him,  was  imprisoned  at  Rome, 
crossed  the  Alps  into  Italy,  A.D.  452.  For  three  months, 


THE   MIGRATIONS  161 

Aquileia,  ever  the  stumbling-block  of  the  invader,  detained 
him,  but  was  finally  taken  and  destroyed.  Many  of  the  Ro- 
mans fled  for  refuge  to  the  little  marshy  islands  of  the  Adri- 
atic, on  which  they  founded  the  city  of  Venice.  Etzel  came 
in  sight  of  Rome,  whose  destruction  appeared  inevitable, 
when  an  unlooked-for  incident  averted  her  fate.  Leo,  the 
bishop  of  Rome,  an  aged  and  dignified  man,  set  forth  to 
meet  the  savage  and  rapacious  Huns,  at  the  head  of  the 
Roman  clergy,  arrayed  in  priestly  attire  and  chanting  de- 
votional hymns.  None  ventured  to  oppose  the  pious  priests, 
and  they  presented  themselves  before  the  king,  who,  influ- 
enced by  Leo's  aspect  and  words,  promised  to  spare  the  city 
and  instantly  to  retire.  According  to  the  legend,  the  appear- 
ance of  this  saintly  man  so  powerfully  affected  the  mind  of 
the  Hun  that,  in  imagination,  he  beheld  an  enormous  giant 
tower  above  the  head  of  the  bishop,  and,  with  a  threatening 
gesture,  motion  to  him  to  retire.  Etzel  died  on  his  way  out 
of  Italy,  according  to  some  accounts,  by  the  bursting  of  a 
blood-vessel,  according  to  others,  by  the  hand  of  a  maiden 
named  Ildegunda,  who  may  have  been  confounded  with 
Chriemhilda;  but  the  whole  occurrence  is  involved  in  ob- 
scurity. He  was  buried  with  great  pomp ;  the  whole  army 
on  horseback  encircling  his  body,  which  was  placed  in  a 
golden  coffin  within  a  silver  one,  and  the  whole  inclosed  in 
one  of  lead.  Those  who  prepared  his  grave  were  put  to 
death,  in  order  to  render  impossible  the  discovery  of  the 
locality.  The  sons  of  Etzel  did  not  inherit  the  genius  of 
their  father ;  bitter  feuds,  in  which  the  Huns  joined,  arose 
between  them,  and  the  Germans  speedily  found  means  to 
throw  off  their  yoke.  Ardarich,  king  of  the  Gepidae,  was 
the  first  who  raised  the  standard  of  rebellion.  He  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  Ostrogoths  under  the  Amali,  Walamir,  Theo- 
domir,  and  Widomir.  A  victory  was  won  on  the  river 
Netad  in  Hungary;  and  another  was  gained  by  Walamir 
at  the  mouths  of  the  Danube,  when  the  Huns  were  forced 
to  retreat  beyond  the  Black  Sea.  The  Goths  again  threat- 
ened the  Eastern  empire.  Theodomir,  bribed  by  the  em- 


162  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

peror,  sent  his  son,  Theodorich,  who  was  born  on  the  day 
of  the  last  victory  won  by  Walamir,  as  a  hostage  to  Con- 
stantinople, but  still  maintained  his  position  on  the  Danube. 
Widomir  was  also  persuaded,  by  means  of  a  large  bribe,  to 
turn  his  course  to  the  west,  where  his  people  intermingled 
with  the  Visigoths. 

LXVI.   Geiserich 

GEISERICH,  or  Genserich,  had  placed  himself  on  the 
Vandal  throne  by  the  murder  of  his  brother  Gunderich. 
Although  lame  from  a  fall  from  horseback,  he  was  noted 
as  being  the  most  active  of  all  the  German  leaders.  Being 
driven  from  the  Pyrenees  by  the  Visigoths,  and  invited  into 
Africa  by  Bonifacius,  the  faithless  Roman  governor,  he  re- 
solved to  quit  the  theater  of  war  in  Europe,  and  to  erect  a 
new  and  splendid  kingdom  in  the  luxurious  South.  The 
whole  of  his  subjects,  together  with  some  of  the  Alani  and 
Goths,  in  all  80,000  men,  had  already  assembled  on  the  shore 
for  the  purpose  of  embarkation,  when  he  was  informed  that 
Heringar,  the  king  of  the  Suevi,  was  attacking  him  in  the 
rear,  and,  instantly  returning,  drove  the  enemy  into  a  river, 
in  which  the  king  was  drowned.  In  May,  A.D.  429,  Geise- 
rich sailed  to  Africa,  where  he  conquered  the  whole  of  the 
northern  coast,  and  drove  out  the  Romans  who  had  invited 
him  thither.  The  large  and  well-fortified  city  of  Carthage 
became  his  capital,  and  all  the  other  fortresses  were  demol- 
ished, lest  they  might  serve  as  strongholds  for  the  Romans. 
The  natives  were  well  treated,  and  public  immorality  was 
checked ;  prostitutes  being  compelled  to  marry,  and  adultery 
punished  by  death;  morality  was,  in  fact,  so  strongly  en- 
forced by  Geiserich  that  it  was  commonly  said,  "The  Ro- 
mans are  licentious  when  compared  with  the  Goths,  but  they 
are  worse  when  compared  with  the  Vandals."  Landed 
estates  in  the  vicinity  of  the  capital  were  bestowed  upon 
the  Vandals,  with  the  view  of  hindering  their  dispersion 
during  peace,  and  of  facilitating  their  assembling  in  case  of 


THE   MIGRATIONS  163 

danger.  With  political  foresight,  Geiserich,  whose  favorite 
title  was  that  of  Sea-king,  sought  to  sway  the  Mediterranean, 
named  by  his  subjects  the  Vendilsee.  The  plans  formed  by 
Alaric,  whose  early  death  prevented  their  completion,  were 
now  carried  into  execution  by  the  Vandal  monarch,  who,  as 
if  by  enchantment,  created  a  powerful  fleet,  and,  in  439,  be- 
sieged Palermo  with  the  intention  of  conquering  Sicily,  his 
vessels  at  the  same  time  sweeping  the  Atlantic  and  plunder- 
ing the  coasts  of  Spain.  Rome,  at  that  period  threatened  by 
the  Huns,  offered  little  or  no  opposition  to  his  schemes.  The 
death  of  the  gallant  JEtius,  her  brave  defender,  who  fell  a 
victim  to  court  cabals,  hastened  her  ruin.  Valentinian  was 
murdered  by  Maximus,  who  forced  the  widowed  Eudoxia  to 
become  his  wife,  and  seated  himself  on  the  imperial  throne. 
Eudoxia,  animated  by  revenge,  secretly  invited  Geiserich  to 
destroy  Rome  and  to  carry  her  away,  and,  in  455,  he  sailed 
for  that  purpose  with  an  enormous  fleet  to  Italy,  where  he 
landed  and  took  Rome  by  storm,  but  spared  both  the  city 
and  the  inhabitants,  and  contented  himself  with  a  system- 
atic pillage,  which  lasted  fourteen  days.  The  treasure  was 
appropriated  to  the  maintenance  and  increase  of  his  fleet; 
and  the  splendors  of  Rome  were  transported  to  Africa  to 
adorn  her  ancient  rival,  Carthage.  The  ships  were  laden 
with  gold  and  jewels;  even  the  golden  roofs  were  carried 
away.  That  the  Vandals  were  not  insensible  to  beauty  and 
art,  and  that  the  term  of  Vandalism  has  been  wrongly  used 
in  order  to  indicate  coarse  barbarity,  the  enemy  of  refine- 
ment, science,  and  civilization,  are  clearly  proved  on  refer- 
ence to  history,  which  records  their  having  deprived  Rome 
of  her  finest  marbles,  and  that  a  ship  laden  with  them  was 
wrecked ;  had  they  not  appreciated  the  value  of  these  statues, 
as  miracles  of  art,  they  would  either  have  been  wantonly  de- 
stroyed or  passed  by  unheeded.  Geiserich,  preferring  his 
African  kingdom  to  the  possession  of  Italy,  returned  to 
Carthage,  accompanied  by  the  empress  Eudoxia,  whom  he 
regarded  as  part  of  the  booty.  Her  daughter,  who  was  also 
named  Eudoxia,  was  given  in  marriage  to  his  son,  Hune- 


164  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

rich.  The  Vandals  now  ruled  the  seas,  and  annually  devas- 
tated the  coasts  of  Spain,  Italy,  and  Greece.  The  Romans 
and  Goths  in  Spain  armed  a  great  fleet  against  them,  which 
Geiserich  attacked  when  lying  in  the  harbors,  and  carried 
away  from  the  roads.  Leo,  emperor  of  the  East,  A.D.  460, 
manned  a  formidable  fleet  at  Constantinople,  and  sent  it, 
under  the  command  of  Basiliscus,  against  Carthage.  Gei- 
serich, instead  of  opposing  it  on  the  open  sea,  prudently  re- 
treated into  the  harbor,  and  as  soon  as  the  Greeks  had  drawn 
up  their  ships  in  a  close  circle  round  the  entrance,  suddenly 
sent  fire  ships  among  them,  which  destroyed  the  greater 
part,  and  put  the  rest  to  flight,  A.D.  468.  Geiserich  died,  ten 
years  after  this  event,  in  extreme  old  age,  A.D.  478.  After 
the  migration  of  the  Vandals  to  Africa,  the  Roman  peasants, 
headed  by  Merobaudes,  the  Roman  poet,  in  whose  honor  col- 
umns were  raised,  revolted  against  the  Suevi,  who,  numeri- 
cally weak,  and  shaken  by  disaster,  gradually  sank,  while 
the  dominion  of  the  Visigoths  increased,  and  finally  spread 
over  the  whole  of  Spain. 

LXVII.    Odoachar 

AFTER  Geiserichs'  departure  from  Rome,  Ricimer,  the 
Sueve,  grandson  to  Wallia,  king  of  the  Visigoths,  and  the 
hereditary  enemy  of  the  Vandals,  held  undisputed  sway  in 
Italy,  and  conducted  all  the  measures  taken  against  Gei- 
serich by  both  the  Western  and  Eastern  empires.  His  au- 
thority, however,  was  not  displeasing  to  the  weak  emperors 
of  Constantinople,  with  whom  he  entered  into  alliance,  be- 
cause, satisfied  with  possessing  the  power  without  the  title 
of  emperor,  he  bestowed  it  upon  men  whom  he  one  after  the 
other  deposed,  as  soon  as  they  disobeyed  his  injunctions. 
Majorian,  Severus,  Arthemius,  whose  daughter  he  married, 
but  whom  he  soon  after  disagreed  with,  and  finally,  Olyb- 
rius,  were  successively  proclaimed  emperor,  and  kept  hi  awe 
by  his  German  troops,  chiefly  composed  of  Heruli  and  Rugii, 


THE  MIGRATIONS  165 

who  had  settled  in  the  Alps  to  the  northwest  of  Italy,  A.D. 
472.     His  death  left  the  throne  defenseless. 

Odoachar,  one  of  the  Heruli  (of  whom  when  yet  a  youth 
it  had  been  foretold  by  St.  Severinus  that  he  would  exchange 
his  rough  furs  for  the  imperial  purple),  was  distinguished  for 
his  boldness  and  valor,  and  soon  caused  himself  to  be  elected 
prince  of  his  nation,  and  leader  of  the  Roman  mercenaries. 
He  first  united  with  Childerich,  the  Frank,  against  the  Ale- 
manni,  whose  prince,  Gibuld,  he  overthrew,  A.D.  466.  He 
then  planned  the  conquest  of  Rome,  and  easily  succeeded  in 
dethroning  Romulus  Augustulus,  an  amiable  but  weak  youth, 
the  last  of  the  Roman  emperors,  when  he  caused  himself  to 
be  proclaimed  king  of  Italy,  probably  as  much  from  a  super- 
stitious dread  of  the  fatal  destiny  which  seemed  attached  to 
those  who  bore  the  imperial  title  as  from  a  desire  of  flatter- 
ing his  countrymen.  A.D.  476. — A.U.C.  1229.  Order  was 
quickly  established  throughout  the  kingdom.  The  Germans 
received  a  third  of  the  landed  property,  and  were  distributed 
among  the  Romans,  who  were  allowed  to  retain  their  cus- 
toms and  laws.  Ravenna,  which  became  the  capital,  kept 
the  Tyrolean  Rugii  and  Heruli  in  check.  Thus  was  the  fall, 
of  the  Roman  empire  accomplished,  after  a  struggle  of  eight 
centuries  against  the  Germans,  from  the  time  of  the  first 
Brennus  to  that  of  Odoachar,  by  whom  their  colossal  power 
was  finally  crushed.  Order  was  restored ;  but  it  was  long 
before  the  ferment  entirely  ceased.  After  the  fall  of  Rome, 
the  Latin  tongue  and  the  refinements  of  the  South  greatly 
influenced  its  conquerors,  and  drew  a  broader  line  of  distinc- 
tion between  them  and  their  brethren  who  still  inhabited  the 
wild  and  trackless  forests;  Christianity  also  caused  a  still 
wider  separation  between  the  converted  and  the  pagan  na- 
tions. These  circumstances,  combined  with  the  hereditary 
feuds  and  the  restless,  war-loving  character  of  the  Germans, 
were  turned  to  advantage  by  their  kings,  who,  influenced 
either  by  zeal  for  religion  or  by  ambitious  motives,  carried 
on  the  struggle,  now  terminated  with  Rome,  among  them- 
selves. 


166  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 


PART    IV 

THE  TRANSITION  FROM    PAGANISM  TO  CHRIS- 
TIANITY 

LXVIII.   The  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 

IN  THE  midst  of  the  tumult  of  nations,  rushing  onward 
in  their  migrations  as  madly  as  the  raging  waters  of 
the  lordly  Rhine  beneath  its  black  and  aged  cliffs, 
Christianity,  the  spirit  of  eternal  peace,  appeared,  like  the 
celestial  bow  hanging  unmoved  and  calm,  softly  radiating 
through  its  misty  veil,  over  the  dark  and  foaming  abyss. 
While  the  Roman  empire,  in  the  decline  of  age,  shaken  to 
its  very  foundations  by  savage  and  invading  hordes,  was 
slowly  sinking  to  decay,  while  those  mighty  hordes,  solely 
•intent  on  pillage,  filled  the  world  with  horror  and  despair, 
a  mild  and  gentle  spirit  of  love  and  peace  sought  refuge  hi 
the  hearts  of  a  few,  as  in  a  sanctuary,  uninfluenced  by 
earthly  power,  gradually  gained  a  mastery  over  the  pas- 
sions of  mankind,  and,  by  its  invisible  but  benign  influence, 
spread  peace  around.  The  gospel  was  preached  and  pro- 
claimed in  the  East  and  West  by  the  apostles  and  followers 
of  the  Saviour,  who  sealed  their  profession  with  a  martyr's 
death. 

Small  Christian  communities  disseminated  themselves  to 
the  utmost  verge  of  the  empire,  and  although  cruelly  perse- 
cuted by  the  Roman  emperors,  Christianity  rose  again  with 
renovated  strength,  like  the  phoenix  from  the  pyre.  Before 
its  doctrines,  replete  with  eternal  truth,  the  dark  fables  of 
paganism  fell ;  while  the  firmness  shown  by  its  adherents 
in  preferring  a  lingering  death,  torture,  and  the  stake  to  a 
renunciation  of  their  faith  'mpressed  even  their  persecutors 


FROM   PAGANISM   TO    CHRISTIANITY  167 

with  a  conviction  of  the  truth  of  the  religion  they  professed, 
and  aided  its  diffusion.  In  the  commencement  of  the  fourth 
century,  the  new  religion  had  taken  such  deep  root  in  the 
empire  that  the  emperor  Constantine  deemed  it  politic  to 
adopt  it,  and,  by  so  doing,  rendered  it  the  religion  of  the 
state.  Under  the  first  Christian  emperors,  the  German  coun- 
tries lying  within  their  jurisdiction  were  entirely  Christian- 
ized, and  the  heathen  temples  were  either  converted  into 
churches  or  new  places  of  worship  were  erected. 

Before  the  conversion  of  Constantine,  while  war  was  rag- 
ing on  the  Danube,  a  great  number  of  the  Goths  were  con- 
verted by  their  Roman  prisoners,  and  Christianity  spread  so 
rapidly  among  them  that  Gothic  bishops  were  present  at  the 
great  council  of  Nice,  convoked  by  that  emperor,  and  sev- 
eral distinguished  theologians  shone  among  the  earliest 
Gothic  bishops,  one  of  whom,  Ulphilas,  as  has  already 
been  mentioned,  produced  a  Gothic  translation  of  the 
Bible.  In  the  progress  of  the  migrations,  all  the  Gothic 
tribes,  after  their  settlement  in  the  Roman  territory,  em- 
braced Christianity;  an  example  shortly  afterward  followed 
by  the  Franks,  who  imparted  its  doctrines  to  the  other 
nations  of  Germany. 

LXIX.  The  Spirit  of  Christianity 

THE  fundamental  doctrine  of  the  Christian  religion,  "Love 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself,"  was  a  command  of  love  by  which 
it  was  at  once  distinguished  from  the  different  religions, 
founded  upon  egotism,  practiced  by  the  heathens.  The 
Jews,  Greeks,  and  Romans,  like  the  ancient  priest-castes 
of  the  East,  that  kept  themselves  apart  from  the  rest  of 
the  people,  regarded  themselves  as  chosen  nations,  all  oth- 
ers as  barbarians,  strangers,  and  enemies,  whom  they  were 
not  only  permitted  but  commanded  to  treat  with  cruelty  or 
to  exterminate.  Hence  slavery  was  universally  practiced. 
The  ancient  Germans,  who  only  respected  the  rights  of  those 
with  whom  they  were  in  immediate  alliance,  and  the  laws 


168  THE  HISTORY  OF  GERMANY 

of  hospitality,  were  not  free  from  a  similar  charge,  and 
habitually  treated  every  stranger,  nay,  even  their  own  coun- 
trymen and  nearest  neighbors,  as  enemies,  and  made  it  their 
chief  occupation  to  attack  and  oppress  each  other.  Chris- 
tianity first  taught  equality  and  fraternal  love.  The  spirit- 
uality of  its  doctrines  was  also  directly  opposed  to  those 
inculcated  by  paganism,  which,  referring  merely  to  the  ex- 
ternal world,  degraded  men's  minds  by  sensuality  and  super- 
stition. To  many  of  the  nations  of  antiquity,  the  doctrine 
of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  was  utterly  unknown,  while 
others  formed  their  notions  of  a  future  state  on  the  same 
principle  as  the  Germans,  who  imagined  their  heavenly 
Walhalla  to  be  merely  a  more  joyous  continuation  of  their 
earthly  existence.  Christianity  first  taught  the  doctrines  of 
the  Divine  origin,  and  of  the  eternal  duration  of  the  soul. 
Deeply  impressed  with  the  truth  of  these  two  great  doctrines, 
whole  nations  renounced  their  ancient  superstitions  and  cus- 
toms, and  egotism,  so  deeply  rooted  in  the  nature  of  man, 
alone  opposed  the  fulfillment  of  the  great  injunction  of  uni- 
versal love  that  has  ever  been  so  universally  disobeyed.  Na- 
tions continued  to  butcher  each  other,  nay,  they  even  carried 
on  the  butchery  in  the  name  of  the  very  Saviour  who  en- 
joined peace  and  love;  while  slavery  not  only  continued,  but 
even  gained  ground  among  the  Germans,  who  framed  their 
excuse  on  the  humility  inculcated  by  the  gospel.  But  the 
good  seed  had  been  sown,  and  gradually  produced  better 
fruit.  Centuries  passed  away;  and,  as  the  doctrine  of 
mercy,  the  knowledge  of  the  common  rights  of  man,  of 
the  value  of  civilization  and  of  peace,  imperceptibly  gained 
ground,  ancient  barbarism  disappeared.  Although  the  pre- 
cept of  universal  philanthropy  taught  by  Christ  found  a  slow 
and  difficult  reception  among  the  conquerors  of  the  earth, 
the  second  frim  of  Christianity,  inward  contemplation,  met 
with  universal  encouragement;  souls  oppressed  by  crime  or 
misfortune  sought  peace  in  the  bosom  of  the  church,  or  the 
egotism  and  pride  of  man  led  to  a  haughty  contempt  of  the 
world,  and  immoderate  mortification  of  the  body.  The  Ro- 


FROM   PAGANISM   TO    CHRISTIANITY  169 

man,  whose  sense  of  guilt  was  sharpened  by  the  ever-recur- 
ring recollection  of  his  ancient  empire,  now  trampled  beneath 
the  foot  of  the  savage  invader,  sought  to  expiate  the  past  and 
to  forget  the  present  in  the  contemplation  of  eternity;  while 
to  the  German,  hurried  away  by  his  fervid  imagination  and 
enthusiastic  zeal,  Christianity  presented  a  bright  and  joyous 
view,  and  he  regarded  himself  as  a  soldier  of  Christ,  whose 
glory  he  must  seek  to  promote  on  earth  by  fighting  and  con- 
quering in  his  cause.  An  inspiring  and  encouraging  faith 
also  pervaded  the  doctrines  of  the  first  German  theologians, 
recluses,  and  ecclesiastical  orders,  whose  renunciation  of  the 
world,  and  disdain  of  its  allurements,  far  from  being  the  re- 
sult of  sorrow  or  remorse,  originated  in  religious  enthusiasm, 
and  an  ecstatic  contemplation  of  future  and  eternal  joy. 

LXX.   The  Catholic  Doctrine 

THE  false  interpretation  of  the  figurative  expressions  with 
which  the  Bible  abounds  has  ever  been  owing  to  ignorance 
or  to  willful  perversion.  In  the  earlier  times  of  Christianity, 
the  new  doctrine  was  tainted  with  paganism  and  the  ancient 
philosophy  of  Greece ;  the  former,  in  direct  contradiction  to 
the  words  of  the  Saviour,  requiring  many  outward  forms, 
while  the  philosophers  sought  to  build  some  theory  of  their 
own  imagining  on  some  fancied  interpretation  of  the  gospel. 
Two  of  the  religious  sects,  to  which  these  various  interpre- 
tations gave  rise,  whose  animosity  greatly  influenced  the 
history  of  the  world,  and  whose  dispute  was  settled  by  the 
great  council  of  Nice,  convoked  by  the  emperor  Constantino, 
A.D.  325,  may  be  more  particularly  remarked.  The  sect  of 
the  Arians,  so  named  after  their  founder,  Arius,  maintained 
that  God  only  consisted  of  one  person,  and  that  Christ  was 
not  God  himself;  while  the  opposite  party  professed  that 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  was  also  God  the  Father,  only  ap- 
pearing as  a  second  person  under  his  earthly  form,  but  united 
to  the  Godhead  by  the  eternal  Spirit.  They  also  divided  the 
Godhead  into  three  persons,  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son, 
GERMANY.  VOL.  I. — 8 


170  THE   HISTORY    OF   GERMANY 

and  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  named  them  the  Holy  Trinity. 
The  latter  sect  triumphed,  and  took  the  appellation  of  Catholic 
or  universal. 

The  German  bishops  could  not  yet  compete  in  learning 
with  the  countless  clergy  of  Greece  and  Rome.  One  of 
them,  named  Theophilus,  a  Goth,  distinguished  himself  at 
Nice  in  defense  of  Arianism ;  two  others,  Sunnia  and  Fre- 
tela,  asked  the  advice  of  St.  Hieronymus  on  the  subject. 
Unila,  Nicetas,  and  Theotimus  are  also  mentioned  as  cele- 
brated Gothic  bishops,  but  the  only  Gothic  book  extant  is 
the  Bible  translation  of  Ulphilas.  It  is  merely  known  that 
all  the  Goths  regarded  Arianism  as  the  simpler  and  better 
doctrine,  and  that  their  zealous  profession  of  it  gave  rise  to 
a  Catholic  alliance  between  the  Greeks  and  Romans  (which 
the  Franks,  who,  although  Catholics,  at  first  inclined  to  the 
simpler  doctrine,  and  objected  to  the  worship  of  images,  soon 
afterward  joined),  which  ultimately  proved  too  powerful  for 
them,  and  greatly  contributed  to  their  calamities.  An  ex- 
traordinary multiplicity  of  doctrines  and  ceremonies  was 
gradually  introduced  into  the  Catholic  church.  At  first, 
tradition  had  greater  influence  than  dogma,  or  rather,  ex- 
amples were  cited  without  the  precepts  they  inculcated  being 
much  commented  upon.  Piety  was  demonstrated  by  actions 
of  self-denial,  of  bold  heroism,  of  fidelity  unto  death,  etc., 
which  were  transcribed  and  held  up  for  imitation,  and  with 
a  little  poetical  embellishment  were  converted  into  legends, 
which,  in  the  first  centuries  after  Christ,  had  already  become 
very  numerous,  and  formed  the  chief  literature  of  the  times. 
The  naivete  and  profound  thought  that  distinguish  the  le- 
gends of  Germany  prove  that  Christianity  was  originally  in 
that  country  entirely  practical,  and  free  from  subtle  specula- 
tions. Their  moral  is  ever  noble  and  elevated,  and  they  in- 
culcate every  Christian  virtue  through  the  medium  of  inter- 
esting and  attractive  tales,  generally  founded  upon  fact.  At 
a  later  period,  the  legends  became  less  natural,  and  the  moral 
they  inculcated  more  ecclesiastical.  Simple  practical  Chris- 
tianity was  lost  amid  the  artificial  and  complicated  ceremonies 


FROM   PAGANISM   TO    CHRISTIANITY  171 

of  the  church,  which  were  chiefly  introduced  by  the  exagger- 
ated and  perverted  practice  of  worshiping  the  saints,  and 
men,  instead  of  being  roused  by  the  example  of  the  martyrs 
to  emulate  their  piety  and  virtue,  instead  of  seeking  to  live 
and  to  act  in  the  same  spirit  by  which  they  were  animated, 
actually  began  to  worship  their  dead  bodies,  their  ashes,  and 
their  relics,  to  raise  chapels  and  churches  in  their  honor,  and 
to  invoke  them,  as  the  heathens  formerly  did  their  household 
deities,  as  the  patrons  and  guardians  of  their  country,  their 
nation,  their  houses,  and  their  families.  Still,  notwithstand- 
ing these  heathenish  practices  of  the  church  and  the  subtlety 
of  theologians,  the  living  spirit  of  Christianity  was  not  en- 
tirely lost,  and  long  breathed  in  the  simple  and  unadulter- 
ated forms  of  the  church  in  Germany.  A  spirit  of  austerity 
and  of  reverential  awe,  modified  by  a  faith  of  almost  child- 
like simplicity,  may  be  traced  throughout  our  earliest  le- 
gends. The  strict  morality  practiced  by  the  German  while 
yet  a  heathen  was  now  ratified  by  the  commands  of  the 
gospel,  and  more  strictly  enforced  by  religious  zeal.  The 
legends  of  this  period  chiefly  record  the  pious  fidelity  of  men, 
and  the  holy  chastity  of  women,  and  clothe  ancient  German 
virtue,  as  in  the  beautiful  legend  of  Genoveva,  in  a  more 
religious  garb.  Christianity,  while  still  in  its  infancy,  pre- 
sented a  bright  contrast  with  the  dark  religions  of  antiquity, 
and  inspired  every  mind  with  confidence.  A  light  had  burst 
upon  mankind;  the  dark  clouds  veiling  futurity  had  passed 
away,  and  the  brightness  of  heaven  was  disclosed  to  view. 
The  combats  of  the  gods  and  their  carousals  in  Walhalla 
were  exchanged  for  the  promises  of  Christian  bliss,  of  spirit- 
ual glorification.  The  ferocity  of  the  warrior  was  tamed; 
for  a  while  the  clash  of  the  weapon  and  the  din  of  war 
ceased,  while  the  iron-bound  knee  bent  at  the  sound  of  the 
vesper  bell.  Rapine  and  bloodshed  had  devastated  Europe 
for  centuries,  and  the  most  sudden  vicissitudes  of  fortune 
had  become  common  during  the  great  migrations;  to-day  a 
slave,  to-morrow  an  emperor;  now  the  ruler  of  the  North, 
now  dragged  in  chains  to  the  far  South,  the  land  of  the  dark 


172  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

African;  and  so  general  had  been  the  suffering  that  the  first 
dream  of  the  convert,  the  first  hope  of  the  Christian,  was 
that  once  again  he  might  behold  those  from  whom  he  had 
been  so  cruelly  torn ;  a  hope  that  forms  the  groundwork  of 
the  interesting  legend  of  St.  Faustinianus,  so  deeply  char- 
acteristic of  the  age,  and  of  all  the  legends  of  those  times, 
now  so  lightly  esteemed,  although  valuable  as  historical 
documents,  and  replete  with  beauty. 

LXXI.   Commencement  of  the  Hierarchy 

THE  only  Christian  communities  were  scattered  and  op- 
pressed ;  and  even  when  the  whole  Roman  empire  embraced 
Christianity,  no  spiritual  superior  was  allowed  by  the  em- 
peror. Each  community  had  its  priest,  a  certain  number 
of  whom  were  controlled  by  a  bishop.  The  bishops  were 
all  of  equal  rank,  and  formed  a  council  (concilium),  which 
was  presided  over  by  the  emperor,  and  which  deliberated 
upon  and  fixed  the  doctrines  of  faith,  the  forms  of  worship, 
and  the  ordinances  of  the  church. 

The  necessity  of  unity  in  the  church,  the  division  and 
gradual  decay  of  the  imperial  power,  afforded  an  opportu- 
nity for  ambitious  churchmen  to  increase  their  authority, 
and  the  bishops  were  ere  long  controlled  by  the  patriarchs, 
or  heads  of  the  church,  four  of  whom  were  created;  viz., 
the  patriarch  for  "Western  Europe,  who  resided  at  Rome; 
for  Eastern  Europe,  at  Constantinople;  for  Asia,  at  An- 
tioch;  for  Africa,  at  Alexandria.  The  highest  authority 
was,  however,  in  reality  still  exercised  by  the  councils.  In 
the  seventh  century,  the  patriarchates  of  Antioch  and  Alex- 
andria were  destroyed  by  the  Turks,  by  whoaa  Mohamme- 
danism, which  speedily  supplanted  Christianity  in  Asia  and 
Africa,  was  introduced. 

The  long  and  violent  contest  carried  on  between  the  patri- 
arch of  Constantinople,  whose  power  sank  with  that  of  the 
Eastern  empire,  and  his  Roman  rival,  naturally  roused  the 
eympathy  and  passions  of  the  different  nations  that  owned 


FROM  PAGANISM   TO    CHRISTIANITY  173 

their  supremacy,  and  while  Rome  was  supported  by  Ger- 
many, the  Eastern  Romans,  Greeks,  Asiatics,  ^.nd  Slavi 
sided  with  Constantinople.  A  difference,  at  first  hardly 
perceptible,  in  the  dogma  and  form  of  the  Greek  church, 
gradually  produced  a  schism,  which  at  length  caused  its 
complete  separation  from  that  of  Rome,  whose  patriarch 
usurped  the  unlimited  control  of  the  church,  and  gave  it  a 
monarchical  form.  The  entire  West,  including  the  whole 
of  Germany  and  the  northern  countries,  embraced  the  tenets 
of  the  Roman  church,  whose  authority  mainly  rested  on  the 
interpretation  of  a  certain  verse  in  the  New  Testament,  which 
it  was  alleged  proved  the  intention  of  the  Saviour  to  found 
the  new  church  upon  St.  Peter,  as  upon  a  rock ;  as  a  logical 
sequel  to  this  doctrine,  this  foundation  stone  was  the  martyr- 
dom of  St.  Peter  at  Rome,  where  he  preached  the  gospel. 
The  chair  of  the  Roman  patriarch  was  consequently  called 
that  of  St.  Peter,  whom  he  was  supposed  to  succeed,  and, 
like  whom,  he  was  also  supposed  to  hold  the  keys  of  heaven. 
The  pontiff,  or  pope  (papa,  father),  was  at  first  subordinate 
to  and  protected  by  the  temporal  monarchs,  and  it  was  some 
time  before  he  usurped  any  temporal  power,  or  ventured  to 
interfere  in  any  great  degree  with  the  internal  regulations 
of  the  German  church,  whose  bishops,  although  subject  to 
the  decisions  of  the  general  council,  held  independent  convo- 
cations in  their  own  country,  and,  having  the  first  voice  in 
the  national  assembly,  were  united  in  one  common  national 
interest,  and  had  not  yet  become  blindly  submissive  to  Rome. 
The  archbishops  (among  whom  those  of  Mayence  and  Rheims 
were  the  first  who  extended  their  authority)  had  each  several 
bishops  under  their  control.  The  common  clergy  were  al- 
ways chosen  by  the  people,  and  slaves  were  not  allowed  to 
enter  into  holy  orders.  In  default  of  schools,  the  monas- 
teries and  the  service  under  priests  afforded  the  only  means 
of  spiritual  tuition.  The  priests  were  obliged  to  be  confirmed 
in  their  offices  and  to  be  ordained  by  the  bishops,  who,  al- 
though chosen  by  the  priests,  were  confirmed  in  their  dignity 
by  the  people,  the  king,  and  the  pope.  In  the  same  manner 


174  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

that  the  vote  of  the  monarch  became  more  influential,  as 
democratic  power  gradually  decayed,  monarchical  power 
at  a  later  period  yielded  (in  its  turn)  before  the  despotic 
vote  of  the  pope,  who  was  at  first  very  irregularly  chosen, 
his  election  being  greatly  influenced  by  the  people  of  Rome, 
until  its  final  regulation  in  the  eleventh  century.  The  pope 
was  surrounded  by  a  chosen  number  of  dignitaries  of  the 
church,  who,  according  to  statute,  consisted  of  archbishops 
and  bishops,  and  who  acted  as  counselors,  officers,  and  leg- 
ates, and,  under  the  title  of  Cardinals,  elected  his  successor. 
As  early  as  the  eighth  century,  a  similar  regulation  existed 
in  some  of  the  bishoprics,  the  bishops  being  elected  by  a  num- 
ber of  canons  (canonici;  Domherrn,  from  .Dora,  church). 
The  popes,  during  their  assumption  of  power,  added  their 
decretals  to  the  laws  or  canons  of  the  church,  compiled  by 
the  council,  and  sanctioned  by  the  monarch,  which,  grad- 
ually creeping  into  the  civil  law,  influenced  both  public  and 
private  life.  All  pagan  customs,  with  the  exception  of  those 
incorporated  into  the  Roman  ceremonies  and  belief,  were  in- 
terdicted by  the  church,  not  by  the  state,  under  penalty  of 
public  penance.  Domestic  life  in  Germany  was  also  greatly 
affected  by  the  laws  laid  down  by  the  church  concerning 
marriage  between  relatives,  which  was  merely  allowed  to 
be  contracted  by  persons  five  or  six  degrees  removed  from 
each  other,  and  which  was  denounced  as  incest  when  uon- 
tracted  by  persons  more  nearly  allied  by  blood ;  thus,  many 
things  which,  until  then,  had  been  considered  lawful,  were 
now  punished  as  criminal.  By  these  means,  the  church  ac- 
quired a  fearful  degree  of  influence,  yet  further  increased  by 
the  sale  of  indulgences,  or  the  remission  of  sin  on  payment 
of  a  certain  sum  of  money.  An  additional  hold  was  gained 
upon  the  people  by  means  of  the  judiciary  power  exercised 
by  the  monastic  orders,  and  by  the  higher  church  dignitaries 
over  their  dependents  and  slaves. 

The  clergy  were  generally  maintained  by  tithes.  Every 
landowner,  in  obedience  to  the  old  Jewish  law,  gave  a  tenth 
of  his  produce  to  the  church,  which  was  also  enriched  by 


FROM  PAGANISM    Td     CHRISTIANITY  175 

gifts  to  the  saints,  or  by  pious  offerings,  either  voluntary, 
or  imposed  by  law.  The  churches  and  monasteries  neces- 
sarily required  land  for  their  support,  and  as  extensive  and 
uncultivated  tracts  were,  at  that  time,  everywhere  to  be 
met  with,  the  clergy  were  at  first  remunerated  with  grants 
by  the  monarch  or  the  people,  and  speedily  vied  with  the 
laity  in  influence  and  magnificence.  The  superior  knowl- 
edge of  the  Roman  priesthood,  and  more  especially  their 
improvements  in  agriculture,  early  disposed  the  govern- 
ments of  Germany  in  their  favor,  and  it  was  to  the  priests 
and  monks,  who  introduced  the  use  of  the  plow  while  they 
taught  the  gospel,  that  our  rude  forefathers  owed  the  peace- 
ful arts  of  tillage  and  the  knowledge  of  a  Saviour.  It  was 
no  unusual  occurrence  for  pious  or  guilty  men  of  rank  to 
bestow  their  Allods  or  freeholds  upon  the  church,  whose 
dependents  and  slaves,  secure  from  the  ravages  of  war,  were 
ever  blessed  with  peace,  which,  added  to  the  consideration 
in  which  the  clergy  were  held  on  account  of  their  knowledge 
of  agriculture,  and  to  their  being  everywhere  in  possession 
of  the  most  productive  soil,  rendered  it  an  enviable  distinc- 
tion to  dwell  beneath  the  shade  of  the  crosier. 

LXXIL   The  Monasteries 

THE  first  ^ermits,  or  recluses  (men  who,  shunning  society, 
and  despising  worldly  pleasures  and  grandeur,  dwelt  in  dark 
caves,  fed  upon  roots,  and  passed  their  lives  in  prayer  and 
meditation),  are  met  with  hi  the  vast  deserts  of  Egypt, 
whither  they  had  either  fled  for  safety  during  the  bloody 
persecutions  of  the  Christians,  or  had  resorted  for  devotional 
purposes.  St.  Antony  was  the  first  hermit.  Soon  after  him, 
St.  Pachomius  founded  the  first  community  of  recluses,  A.D. 
305,  who  bound  themselves  to  the  observance  of  the  severest 
rules.  Women  also  formed  similar  communities ;  and  monas- 
teries and  nunneries  soon  became  numerous.  About  the  fifth 
century,  Benedict  of  Nursia  founded  a  new  and  powerful 
monkish  order  in  Italy,  distinguished  as  the  Benedictins,  or 


176  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

"Western  monks,  from  the  earlier  Basilians  (who  took  their 
name  from  St.  Basilius),  or  Greek  monks.  Although  the 
trinal  vow,  of  obedience,  poverty,  and  chastity,  was  com- 
mon to  all  monkish  orders,  they  were  reasonable  enough  to 
perceive  the  impossibility  of  enforcing  it,  and  it  is  expressly 
stated  in  the  rules  of  the  Benedictins,  an  order  including  all 
the  monks  and  nuns  of  the  West,  that  those  who  found  the 
vow  too  severe  might  quit  the  cloister  and  return  to  the 
world:  "Si  non  potes  servare,  liber  discede."  Benedict  also 
ordained  that  the  monks,  instead  of  being  idle,  should  work, 
cultivate  the  land,  write  useful  books,  etc. ;  a  law  which 
proved  extremely  beneficial,  and  greatly  tended  to  spread 
the  knowledge  of  agriculture,  which  received  many  useful 
improvements  from  the  monks,  and  of  the  cultivation  of 
useful  plants,  facilitated  by  the  mutual  intercourse  between 
adjacent  monasteries;  and  it  must  be  confessed  that  what- 
ever has  been  handed  down  to  us  of  the  science  and  litera- 
ture of  Greece  and  Rome,  of  the  history  of  the  world  and  of 
that  of  Christianity,  is  owing  to  the  labors  of  the  pious  and 
learned  monks  of  those  tunes,  who  preserved  and  copied  the 
manuscripts  that  escaped  the  destruction  caused  by  the  mi- 
grations, and  who  penned  the  histories  of  their  monasteries, 
or  recorded  the  political  events  of  their  times. 

Rome  was,  at  that  period,  the  center  of  the  learned  world, 
and  the  Latin  tongue  was,  consequently,  in  general  use  in 
the  monasteries.  An  attempt  made,  in  later  times,  to  re- 
place it  by  the  language  of  the  country,  failed,  owing  to  the 
influence  of  the  pope,  whose  power  had  already  reached  a 
dangerous  height,  and  by  whom  the  use  of  the  Latin  tongue 
was  prescribed  in  all  ecclesiastical  matters  as  a  means  of  in- 
creasing the  dependence  of  the  laity  upon  the  priesthood,  and 
of  curbing  the  independent  spirit  of  the  Germans.  The  mon- 
asteries and  convents,  governed  by  abbots  and  abbesses,  origi- 
nally under  the  control  of  the  bishops,  were  no  sooner  enriched 
by  endowments  of  money  or  land,  and  rendered  powerful  by 
the  number  of  their  dependents,  than  they  asserted  their  in- 
dependence, in  which  they  were  upheld  by  the  popes,  who 


FROM   PAGANISM    TO    CHRISTIANITY  177 

made  use  of  these  co-operative  societies,  whose  influence 
extended  throughout  Christendom,  as  a  check  upon  the  am- 
bition of  the  bishops. 

LXXIIL   The  Catholic  Form  of  Worship 

GOD,  no  longer  adored  on  the  mountain  or  in  the  forest, 
was  now  worshiped  in  temples  consecrated  to  his  service. 
The  Christian  or  Byzantine  style  of  architecture,  so  called 
from  having  been  first  introduced  at  Byzantium  (Constanti- 
nople), was  general  throughout  Germany  until  the  Middle 
Ages,  when  it  attained  a  higher  degree  of  perfection,  and 
was  called  the  German  or  Gothic  style.  The  introduction 
of  pictures  and  images  into  churches  early  became  a  source 
of  contention,  and  was  as  strongly  censured  by  one  party, 
who  feared  lest  the  veneration  in  which  they  were  held  might 
endanger  the  spiritual  purity  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  de- 
generate into  idolatry,  as  it  was  strongly  upheld  by  another, 
who  argued  that  they  were  merely  venerated  as  visible  rep- 
resentations of  the  objects  of  their  mental  adoration,  the 
Saviour,  the  holy  family,  the  martyrs,  and  their  sufferings, 
etc.,  and  that  the  effect  produced  by  an  elevated  style  of 
architecture,  by  sculpture,  paintings,  music,  illuminations, 
processions,  and  ceremonies,  upon  the  senses,  was  highly 
conducive  to  devotion.  The  latter  opinion  prevailed,  and 
the  churches  were  gorgeously  decorated.  Vaulted  roofs 
and  lofty  towers  lent  an  air  of  imposing  grandeur  to  the 
edifice,  adorned  within  with  columns,  statues,  and  pictures. 
In  simple  but  deeply  stirring  hymns,  the  priests  chanted 
in  the  Latin  tongue  the  praise  of  the  Most  High ;  lamps  and 
waxen  tapers  burned  day  and  night  before  the  sacred  pictures 
and  images;  while  holy  water  and  incense,  genuflections, 
folding  of  the  hands,  the  sign  of  the  cross,  the  measured  and 
solemn  movements  of  the  richly  attired  priests  before  the 
splendid  altar,  placed  to  the  east,  where  shone  the  natal 
star  of  Jesus,  the  harmony  of  the  choristers,  etc.,  added 
solemnity  to  the  scene.  In  the  ceremonies  and  in  the  dress 


178  THE    HISTORY    OF    GERMANY 

of  the  priests  much  was  borrowed  from  the  pagan  worship  of 
ancient  Rome,  and  from  the  Jewish  ceremonial.  All  impor- 
tant affairs,  for  instance,  those  transacted  in  the  national 
assembly,  opened  with  prayer. '  The  elected  monarch  was 
solemnly  anointed  and  crowned ;  the  ordeal  was  still  retained 
in  the  laws ;  in  every  important  private  affair  counsel  was 
sought  of  God  or  of  a  saint  by  prayer,  and  by  the  casting 
of  lots ;  much  of  the  pagan  belief  in  natural  powers,  omens, 
etc.,  was  also  retained  by  the  Christians  in  their  various  su- 
perstitions, such  as  belief  in  magic,  witchcraft,  etc.  The  an- 
cient feasts  of  the  heathens  were  now  replaced  by,  or  rather 
changed  into,  Christian  festivals,  the  chief  of  which,  Passion 
"Week  and  Easter,  in  memory  of  the  sufferings  and  resurrec- 
tion of  the  Saviour,  were  partly  borrowed  from  the  ancient 
Passover  of  the  Jews,  and  partly  from  the  spring  festival  of 
the  ancient  Germans.  "Whitsuntide,  like  Easter,  was  a  mov- 
able feast;  Easter  always  falling  on  the  first  Sunday  after 
the  first  full  moon  during  the  equinox,  sometimes  earlier, 
sometimes  later ;  "Whitsuntide  always  falling  forty-nine  days 
after  Easter.  The  church-ale  (Kirmess,  consecration  of  the 
church),  corresponding  with  the  autumnal  festival  of  the  an- 
cient Germans,  was  of  equal  importance ;  and  lastly,  Christ- 
mas, or  the  birth  of  Christ,  fell  in  the  middle  of  winter,  and 
was  a  repetition  of  the  great  Yule  feast.  Many  of  the  nu- 
merous other  festivals,  in  honor  of  the  Saviour,  of  the  holy 
Virgin,  and  of  the  saints,  corresponded  with  those  of  pagan 
times,  to  which  several  of  the  customs  practiced  at  those 
periods  bear  great  resemblance ;  for  instance,  the  practice  of 
carrying  palm  branches  and  green  boughs;  St.  John's  fire; 
St.  Martin's  goose ;  horns,  etc.  Sunday  was  a  regular  festi- 
val, on  which,  as  on  all  others,  peace,  joy,  and  rest  were 
enjoined.  Fasts,  or  the  prohibition  of  meat,  although  taken 
from  a  Jewish  custom,  accorded  with  the  Christian  spirit  of 
self-denial,  and  fell  on  several  feast  days,  on  every  Friday, 
and  lasted  several  weeks  before  Passion  "Week. 

1  As  in  the  English  houses  of  parliament  at  the  present  day. — Trans. 


FROM  PAGANISM   TO    CHRISTIANITY  179 

The  institution  of  certain  sacraments,  or  holy  acts,  such 
as  baptism,  the  confirmation  or  consecration  of  adults,  the 
marriage  benediction,  the  last  unction,  and  confession,  which, 
under  pain  of  eternal  condemnation  and  excommunication, 
ordained  that  all  crimes  should  be  confessed  to  the  priest, 
who,  bound  to  secrecy,  awarded  penance  or  gave  absolution, 
greatly  influenced  domestic  life.  The  clergy,  as  they  in- 
creased in  importance,  arrogated  to  themselves  the  right  of 
excluding  rebellious  members  from  the  church,  the  most 
severe  of  all  ecclesiastical  punishments,  which,  formerly, 
consisted  merely  of  penance  within  or  without  the  church, 
corporeal  chastisement,  offerings,  and  fines.  The  supposed 
sanctity  of  certain  localities  to  which  pilgrimages  were  made 
(Wallfahrten,  a  name  derived  from  the  pagan  custom  of 
visiting  distant  sacred  forests),  gave  rise  to  another  peculiar 
mode  of  worship.  The  saints,  supposed  to  preside  over  these 
localities,  were  either  invoked  by  people  when  in  danger, 
who,  on  such  occasions,  vowed  to  make  a  pilgrimage  to  their 
sanctuaries,  or  they  were  visited  by  others  in  the  hope  of  a 
miracle  being  performed  in  their  behalf,  in  order  to  free 
them  from  mental  or  bodily  ailments.  Some  of  the  saints 
were  held  in  such  high  estimation  that  their  admirers 
deemed  it  incumbent  upon  them  to  make  a  pilgrimage  to 
their  graves  at  least  once  during  their  lives,  and  sometimes 
imposed  severe  penance  upon  themselves,  by  going  barefoot, 
or  crawling  the  whole  way  on  their  knees. 

LXXIV.    The  Christian  Kings 

THE  struggle  between  the  migratory  nations  and  those 
among  whom  they  attempted  to  settle,  had,  by  necessitating 
implicit  obedience  to  the  dukes  or  chiefs,  greatly  increased 
their  authority  and  gradually  consolidated  their  power.  The 
servility  of  the  Italians,  accustomed  to  the  despotic  rule  of 
Rome,  ere  long  inspired  the  German  chieftains  with  a  wish 
to  tame  the  independent  spirit  of  their  followers.  The  ex- 
ample of  a  Jewish  king,  recorded  in  the  Scriptures,  at  that 


180  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

period  diligently  studied,  greatly  tended  to  strengthen  this 
wish,  and  while  fierce  and  warlike  kings  coveted  the  purple 
of  the  Roman  tyrant,  gentle-minded  and  pious  ones  deemed 
themselves,  like  David,  the  anointed  of  the  Lord,  and  the 
vicegerents  of  God  upon  earth.  The  ancient  Jewish  cere- 
mony of  anointing  with  oil  was  countenanced  by  the  priest- 
hood, on  account  of  the  opportunity  it  afforded  of  flattering 
royalty,  and  of  increasing  their  own  power,  they  alone  hav- 
ing the  right  to  perform  this  sacred  function.  These  ideas, 
however,  were  not  prejudicial  to  the  ancient  privileges  of  the 
people,  the  kings  being  still  dependent  upon  them  for  their 
election,  and  presiding,  not  ruling,  over  the  general  assem- 
bly. When  the  throne  became  hereditary  it  was  made  so 
with  the  consent  of  the  people,  and  was  by  no  means  granted 
from  an  inclination  on  their  part  to  increase  the  royal  prerog- 
ative, but  with  an  intention  of  diminishing  it,  by  imposing 
fresh  conditions  on  each  successor  to  the  crown.  Nor  was 
the  person  of  the  king  considered  inviolable;  the  crime  of 
murdering  him  being,  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  Bavarian 
laws,  merely  punishable  by  a  fine  of  considerable  amount. 
The  royal  allotment  of  the  conquered  land  was  larger  than 
that  of  any  of  the  freeborn  warriors,  and  consisted  of  a  large 
Allod  (freehold)  or  domain,  where  the  king  had  his  palace 
(Hofburg)  and  held  his  court.  He  also  possessed  other  Al- 
lods,  of  smaller  extent,  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  on 
which  he  had  little  Pfalzen  (palaces)  or  country  houses  (vil- 
las), which  served  as  resting  places  for  him  and  his  house- 
hold on  his  journeyings ;  and  on  these  occasions,  in  order  to 
render  the  charge  of  his  maintenance  less  burdensome  to  the 
people,  the  king  and  his  court  were  supported  by  the  reve- 
nues of  these  lands,  to  which  royal  dues,  such  as  tolls,  mines, 
fines,  etc.,  were  gradually  added.  Taxes  and  duties  upon 
freeholds,  private  property,  person,  or  commerce,  were  ut- 
terly unknown,  the  loyal  nation  presenting  gifts  of  honor  to 
their  monarch  on  occasions  of  national  festivity  or  of  royal 
weddings,  when  a  considerable  tribute  was  often  imposed 
upon  the  conquered  nations.  The  kings,  chiefly  enriched  by 


FROM   PAGANISM    TO    CHRISTIANITY  181 

the  pillage  of  the  wealthy  Roman  provinces,  expended  great 
part  of  their  wealth  upon  their  numerous  followers,  the 
splendor  of  whose  appearance  contributed  to  their  pomp  and 
magnificence,  besides  insuring  respect  for  their  authority 
when  presiding  over  the  general  assembly,  and  also  served 
as  a  means  of  alluring  the  youthful  warriors  into  their  serv- 
ice, to  which,  dazzled  by  courtly  splendor,  and  lured  by  am- 
bition (the  nobles  and  leaders  of  the  army  being  chosen  by 
the  monarch  from  their  number),  they  willingly  attached 
themselves. 

LXXV.    State  Assemblies,  Dukes  and  Counts 

THE  new  kingdoms  retained  much  of  the  ancient  Ger- 
manic constitution;  for  instance,  the  division  of  freeborn 
men  into  tens  and  hundreds.  The  tens  (decanid)  disap- 
peared in  course  of  time,  and  the  hundreds  (centend)  be- 
came cantons,  several  of  which  formed  a  Gau  or  province. 
The  popular  assembly  was,  as  in  former  times,  held  every 
fourteen  days,  but,  instead  of  the  president  being  a  judge 
elected  by  the  free  voices  of  the  people,  he  was  a  Graf  or 
count  (comes),  who  was  nominated  by  the  king,  and  headed 
the  contingent  furnished  by  the  Gau  in  time  of  war.  Every 
post  of  honor,  not  only  in  the  army  and  in  the  provinces,  but 
also  in  the  court  and  around  the  royal  person,  being  filled  by 
the  Grafs,  gave  rise  to  different  titles,  such  as,  Pfalzgraf, 
Waldgraf,  Landgraf,  Markgraf ,  etc.  The  word  Graf  (gra- 
vid) has  been  falsely  derived  from  grau  (gray,  old).  Grimm 
has  rightly  deduced  it  from  Ravo  (tectum),  and  makes  it 
synonymous  with  Gfeselle,  a  companion  (from  Saal,  a  hall), 
which  also  signified  a  companion  in  the  house  and  in  the 
field ;  hence  a  Graf  in  Latin  was  always  called  Comes,  and 
had  sometimes  a  proxy  called  Vicecomes  ;  whence  are  de- 
rived the  modern  French  and  English  titles  of  comte,  vi- 
comte,  count,  viscount.  The  army  consisted  of  the  whole 
nation,  headed  by  its  Centners  and  Grafs.  The  great  ex- 
tent of  the  territory  gained  by  conquerors,  like  Etzel,  etc., 


THE    HISTORY   OF    GERMANY 

who,  in  order  to  facilitate  the  government  of  their  enormous 
kingdoms,  allowed  the  subdued  nations  to  retain  their  former 
rulers,  on  condition  of  their  furnishing  a  contingent  in  the 
field,  gave  rise  to  the  ducal  dignity.  The  Frankish  mon- 
archs  pursued  a  similar  policy  toward  the  subjugated  Ger- 
manic tribes,  either  allowing  them  to  be  governed  by  their 
own  princes,  or  setting  dukes  over  them ;  but  in  either  case 
allowing  them  to  retain  their  native  laws,  whether  Aleman- 
nic,  Bavarian,  Saxon,  or  Thuringian.  All  the  Dukes,  Grafs, 
Centners,  and  the  higher  dignitaries  of  the  church,  were 
bound  to  call  the  freemen  of  the  state  to  a  general  assembly, 
presided  over  by  the  monarch,  once  a  year,  and  in  extraordi- 
nary cases,  more  frequently.  These  assemblies  took  cogni- 
zance of  the  judiciary  proceedings  in  which  an  appeal  had 
been  made  to  their  tribunal  from  the  lower  courts ;  framed 
and  improved  the  laws ;  elected  and  deposed  the  king,  who 
was  responsible  to  them  for  his  actions;  declared  war,  and 
concluded  peace,  unless  civil  war  happened  to  be  raging. 
Each  man's  vote  bore  equal  weight  with  that  of  the  king; 
each  individual  also  possessed  an  equal  right  to  state  his 
opinion,  and  to  lay  petitions  before  the  court,  beyond  which 
there  was  no  appeal.  The  chief  alterations  in  the  laws  re- 
lated to  the  confirmation  of  the  royal,  ducal,  and  ecclesiasti- 
cal power,  which  affected  the  whole  state,  and  was  conse- 
quently decided  by  the  assembly,  which  also  regulated  the 
particular  laws  relating  to  dukedoms  and  provinces.  These 
state  assemblies  were,  under  different  names,  common  to  all 
the  Germanic  kingdoms.  The  Anglo-Saxons  named  theirs 
the  Witenagemots  (council  of  wise  men,  elders,  or  gray 
heads),  aged,  wise  or  distinguished  men  being  next  in  rank 
to  the  dignitaries  of  the  church  and  state.  The  Franks, 
whose  assemblies  were  held  in  the  open  air  during  the 
month  of  March,  styled  them  the  fields  of  March. 

The  conduct  of  the  war,  as  soon  as  declared,  was  in- 
trusted to  the  king,  who,  on  that  occasion,  received,  as  was 
the  case  with  the  ancient  German  leaders,  a  great  accession 
of  authority,  and  the  strictest  obedience  was  enforced  to  his 


FROM  PAGANISM    TO    CHRISTIANITY  183 

bann  or  right  of  compulsion.  The  Arimannia,  from  man- 
nire,  to  cite,  were  the  armed  community  convoked  to  the 
national  assembly  during  peace,  which,  in  time  of  war, 
formed  a  Landwehr  (militia),  called  the  arrier-ban  (Heer- 
bann,  from  Heer,  an  army,  and  bannire,  to  summon).  The 
monarch  summoned  the  dukes;  they,  the  counts;  who,  in 
their  turn,  summoned  the  centners;  and  so  on  throughout 
the  several  degrees.  Each  man  served  the  same  chief  in  the 
field  by  whom  he  was  governed  in  time  of  peace.  Every 
canton,  county  and  dukedom  furnished  its  contingent,  which 
was  distinguished  by  a  particular  banner  (Fanner,  Panier, 
a  standard,  whence  comes  the  Banner-herr  or  banneret). 
Every  man  provided  himself  with  arms  and  provisions  until 
the  conclusion  of  the  campaign,  which  was  settled  before- 
hand. Non-appearance  in  the  field,  and  the  still  graver  crime 
of  Heeresliz,  or  desertion  on  the  field  of  battle,  were  severely 
punished.  Obedience  was  strictly  enforced  by  the  king  and 
the  subordinate  leaders,  who  had  the  right  of  inflicting  in- 
stant and  summary  punishment  on  the  person  of  the  crimi- 
nal, a  right  they  durst  not  exercise  in  tune  of  peace.  The 
civil  laws  were  also  thrice  as  severe  during  war  time. 

LXXVI.    The  Laws 

THE  example  of  the  Romans,  the  increased  extent  of  the 
states,  and  the  novelty  of  many  of  the  new  laws  imposed 
upon  the  people,  gradually  produced  the  necessity  of  possess- 
ing written  codes,  which  were  to  a  certain  degree"  disadvan- 
tageous to  the  people,  who  were  rendered  unfamiliar  with 
their  contents  as  soon  as  the  necessity  of  committing  them 
to  memory  ceased,  while  the  facility  with  which  the  number 
and  intricacy  of  the  laws  could  be  increased  soon  required 
them  to  be  interpreted  by  lawyers  or  expositors  of  the  law, 
whose  power  depended  on  their  knowledge  and  capacity. 
The  people  were,  consequently,  on  account  of  their  igno- 
rance, deprived  of  the  right  of  judging  in  legal  matters,  upon 
which,  in  ancient  times,  every  freeman  had  a  right  freely  to 


184  THE  HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

state  his  opinion  and  to  vote,  but  which  were  now  decided 
by  a  select  committee  of  the  Rachimburgen,  who,  in  difficult 
cases,  referred  to  the  opinion  of  a  learned  professor  or  Sagi- 
baro,  who  had  no  casting  vote.  The  Rachimburgen  were 
members  chosen  from  the  national  assembly.  They  were 
continually  changed,  until  the  reign  of  Charlemagne,  by 
whom  their  office  was  rendered  permanent,  and  they  were 
entitled  Schoffen,  whose  nomination  rested  with  the  Grafs. 
The  system  of  Wergeld,  or  fining,  was  retained  in  the  new 
constitution,  which  was  constructed  upon  the  ancient  one, 
and  which,  owing  to  the  constant  insertion  of  new  and  often 
contradictory  laws,  became  at  length  extremely  intricate  and 
confused.  Many  of  the  Roman  civil  laws  were  either  en- 
tirely or  partially  adopted  into  the  civil  code,  and  the  Mosaic 
ecclesiastical  laws  were  mixed  up  with  the  ordinances  of  the 
church,  until,  at  length,  the  erection  of  states  into  hereditary 
kingdoms,  and  the  universal  adoption  of  the  feudal  system, 
rendered  a  new  constitution  and  new  laws  necessary.  The 
most  important  alteration  was  the  partial  suppression  of  the 
ancient  perfect  and  pure  "Wergeld  system,  which  was  re- 
placed by  the  Roman  laws  regarding  imprisonment,  corpo- 
real and  capital  punishment,  the  latter  of  which  was  sup- 
posed to  be  upheld  by  the  scriptural  maxim  of  "An  eye  for 
an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth."  Actions  injurious  to  ducal, 
royal,  or  ecclesiastical  dignity  were  especially  punished  by 
corporeal  chastisement  and  death:  new  crimes  punished 
by  new  laws.  The  old  Wergeld  system  was  still  retained  by 
the  people*  with  this  single  alteration,  that  the  Wergeld  was 
now  always  paid  in  money.  The  highest  coin  current  at 
that  period  was  the  shilling  (solidus).  The  trial  by  single 
combat  also  still  continued  to  be  legal,  and  the  other  ordeals 
were  merely  altered  to  suit  them  to  the  more  enlightened 
ideas  of  the  age. 

As  everything  modern  originated  from  the  South,  and 
everything  ancient  from  the  North,  the  codes  of  the  southern 
nations,  the  Ostro  and  Visi-Goths,  for  the  most  part  contain 
Roman  laws  imbued  with  the  principles  of  Roman  and  bibli- 


FROM   PAGANISM   TO    CHRISTIANITY  185 

cal  legislature,  which  exercised  power  over  the  life,  person, 
freedom,  honor,  and  freehold  property  (Allod)  of  the  crimi- 
nal, while  the  codes  of  the  northern  nations,  particularly 
those  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  still  retain  traces  of  their  genuine 
German  origin.  The  Salic  is  the  oldest  written  law,  and 
was  first  adapted  to  the  new  system  by  Chlodwig,  almost  all 
of  whose  successors  either  added  to  or  modified  it.  The  orig- 
inal manuscript  was  in  German,  but  the  only  complete  copy 
now  extant  is  in  Latin,  and  besides  containing  the  oldest 
preface,  records  many  of  the  barbarous  customs  of  ancient 
Germany,  which,  at  that  period,  were  still  practiced.  The 
antiquity  of  the  Thuringian  code  is  proved  by  its  barbarity; 
it  is  still  perfectly  heathenish,  and  chiefly  treats  of  revenge 
for  bloodshed,  and  of  trials  by  single  combat.  The  contrast 
between  the  nations  of  Lower  and  Upper  Germany,  or  the 
Frankish  Saxons  and  Goths,  is  perceptible  throughout  the 
laws  which  have  descended  to  our  times ;  those  of  the  Franks, 
Thuringians,  and  Longobardi,  and  those  of  the  Saxons, 
Anglo-Saxons,  and  Frisii,  forming  two  connected  codes, 
widely  differing  from  those  of  the  Ostrogoths,  Visigoths, 
and  Burgundians,  and  those  of  the  Alemanni  and  Bava- 
rians. All  the  German  nations  anciently  acted  upon  the 
principle  of  judging  every  man  by  the  laws  of  his  native 
country,  for  which  reason  the  Franks  allowed  the  different 
tribes  subdued  by  them,  and  incorporated  into  their  king- 
dom, to  retain  their  national  laws,  merely  introducing  others 
referring  to  the  church  and  state,  and  to  the  new  situation  of 
affairs  in  general.  The  Longobardi  alone  deviated  from  this 
principle.  Under  the  Merovingian  dynasty,  the  several  codes 
of  the  Ripuarii,  Alemanni,  Thuringians,  and  Bavarians  were 
transcribed.  In  the  fifth  century,  Dietrich  von  Bern  gave  a 
code  of  laws  to  the  Ostrogoths,  and  King  Eurich  one  to  the 
Visigoths,  in  both  of  which  much  was  borrowed  from  the 
Roman  law.  The  Burgundian  code  was  drawn  out  during 
the  reign  of  Gundebald,  and  when  the  Franks  took  posses- 
sion of  Burgundy  merely  received  some  slight  alterations. 
The  first  code  of  the  Longobardi  was  drawn  up  in  the  sev- 


186  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

enth  century,  during  the  reign  of  King  Rotbaris,  whose  sue 
cessors,  and  at  a  later  period  the  Franks,  added  to  it  many 
new  and  Roman  laws.     Originally  the  laws  of  the  Longo- 
bardi  were  essentiaDy  German,  nor  were  any  others  at  first 
tolerated  in  their  country. 

The  Saxons  and  Frisii  were,  at  the  end  of  this  period, 
compelled  by  the  Franks  to  commit  their  laws  to  writing 
with  the  addition  of  the  new  Frankish  ordinances.  In  Eng- 
land,, the  Anglo-Saxon  law,  in  which  the  spirit  of  the  gen- 
uine old  Germanic  code  has  been  faithfully  preserved,  was 
gradually  introduced  by  the  kings.  Latin  transcripts  of  all 
the  codes  of  ancient  Germany  are  still  extant. 

LXXYII.    The  Feudal  System 

FEUDAL  tenure  (or  the  manner  in  which  slaves,  emanci- 
pated slaves  or  freed-men,  and  poor  freemen,  held  part  of  an 
Allod,  for  the  use  of  which  they  rendered  certain  duties  to 
the  owner,  who,  if  the  feoffee  failed  in  fulfilling  his  engage- 
ments, had  the  power  of  depriving  him  of  the  use  of  the 
property,  which  was  only  lent  upon  certain  conditions,  and 
not  given  away)  was  general  among  the  Germans  in  pagan 
times.  Tacitus  mentions  that  the  German  slaves  who  culti- 
vated a  small  parcel  of  land  formed  a  class  distinct  from  the 
household  slaves.  The  wars,  at  a  later  period,  introduced 
another  description  of  feudal  tenure  among  the  subdued 
nations,  who  were  constrained  to  pay  tribute  and  to  swear 
allegiance  to  their  conquerors,  whenever  the  latter  did  not 
take  immediate  possession  of  the  lands;  or,  sometimes,  a 
whole  nation  held  its  lands  in  fief  from  another  on  a  system 
similar  to  that  which  bound  the  slave  to  the  freeman.  "When 
the  migrations  had  ceased,  the  feudal  system  was  perfected 
by  the  Frankish  monarchs,  who  divided  the  extensive  lands 
they  had  gained  in  Gaul,  as  fiefs,  among  their  armed  fol- 
lowers or  dependents,  who,  by  their  services,  had  become 
their  Angetrauten  (confidants,  Antrustiones)  or  Getreuen 
(fideles),  who,  either  on  account  of  the  royal  fiefs  being  as 


FROM  PAGANISM  TO    CHRISTIANITY  187 

large,  and  often  larger,  than  the  Allods  of  the  freemen,  or 
on  account  of  their  holding  offices  as  Grafs,  were  not  only 
admitted  into  the  state  assembly  on  an  equality  with  the 
freemen,  but  were  also  estimated  higher  in  Wergeld.  By 
their  success  in  war  they  gradually  increased  in  wealth  and 
influence,  and  were  at  length  formed  into  a  class  of  nobles, 
who  bore  precedence,  as  royal  feudatories,  over  the  ancient 
nobility  merely  composed  of  freemen,  the  majority  of  whom, 
either  influenced  by  the  ambition  of  shining  at  court,  or  anx- 
ious to  escape  from  poverty  and  debt,  made  a  voluntary  ces- 
sion of  their  Allods  to  the  monarch,  to  whom  they  swore  al- 
legiance as  their  liege  lord,  from  whom  they  held  their  lands 
in  fee  (feudum  oblatum),  and  were  thus  received  into  the 
class  of  nobles  or  vassals  of  the  crown.  In  this  manner  the 
feudal  system  gradually  gained  ground,  and  the  freemen, 
now  the  minority  in  point  of  numbers,  bearing  little  weight 
in  the  state  assembly,  oppressed  by  the  airier-ban,  which 
continually  summoned  them  to  the  field,  the  whole  of  their 
little  property  either  swallowed  up  by  the  necessary  ex- 
penses, or  ruined  by  neglect,  compelled  to  endure  contempt, 
tyranny,  and  poverty,  and  often  deprived  of  their  estates  by 
cabals,  became  completely  subservient  to  the  vassals,  whom 
increasing  wealth  and  power  had  rendered  proud  and  inso- 
lent. Besides  the  crown  vassals,  there  were  also  the  church 
feudatories,  who  held  their  land  on  similar  conditions,  and 
the  underf  eudatories  to  the  vassals,  mesne-lords  or  valvasors. 
All  the  crown  vassals  were  originally  Comites,  companions 
in  arms;  but  the  other  Comites,  or  Graf  en,  before  long 
merely  signified  those  who  were  distinguished  by  the  offices 
they  held  from  the  crowd  of  dependents,  while  the  immedi- 
ate personal  servants,  or  ministeriales,  were  distinguished 
from  the  indirect  servants  by  their  feudal  tenure,  which  im- 
posed certain  duties  upon  them  as  vassals  of  the  crown. 
The  ministeriales  originally  consisted  of  the  Mareschalk,  or 
groom;  the  Truchsess,  he  who  set  the  Truke  or  dish  upon 
the  table ;  the  Mundschenk,  or  cup-bearer ;  the  Kammerer,  or 
chamberlains ;  the  Kuchenmeister,  or  master  of  the  kitchen ; 


188  THE   HISTORY    OF   GERMANY 

the  Kellermeister,  or  superintendent  of  the  cellar;  and  the 
Hausmaier,  or  major  domus,  who,  on  account  of  the  minis- 
teriales  being  composed  of  the  chief  vassals  and  of  the  heads 
of  the  nobility,  was  naturally  considered  as  the  highest  dig- 
nitary of  the  state,  and,  being  himself  a  noble,  was  the  rep- 
resentative of  his  class  on  all  state  occasions.  At  first,  all 
these  ministeriales  were  merely  common  servants,  and  long 
after  the  introduction  of  Christianity  these  offices  were  per- 
formed by  slaves;  as  the  royal  prerogative  increased,  these 
offices  gradually  became  of  higher  importance,  and  their 
titles  being  eagerly  sought  by  men  of  distinction,  became 
attached  to  the  highest  offices  of  state,  to  the  ducal  dignity, 
and  to  the  great  fiefs. 

The  service  rendered  by  the  vassal  was  the  only  bond 
between  him  and  his  lord.  The  fiefs,  at  first  held  only  for 
a  certain  time,  were  afterward  held  for  life,  and  returned  to 
the  mesne-lord  upon  the  death  of  the  feoffee,  a  grievance 
that  was  speedily  removed  by  the  vassals,  as  soon  as  they 
became  powerful  enough  to  compel  the  monarch  to  make  the 
fiefs  hereditary. 

LXXVIII.    Migrations  and  New  Languages 

THE  whole  of  eastern  Germany,  as  far  as  the  Elbe  and 
Saal,  had  been  depopulated  by  the  migrations  of  the  Ger- 
mans, who  were  replaced  by  the  Slavian  nations,  the  Wendi, 
Sorbi  and  Bohemians,  while  the  great  hordes  of  the  ancient 
Ostro-Gerinanic  or  Gothic  nations  spread  over  the  south  and 
west  as  far  as  Africa.  The  Saxons,  Thuringians,  and  the 
Bavarians,  whose  name  now  suddenly  starts  from  its  long 
oblivion,  the  Alemanni  in  Swabia,  Alsace,  and  Switzerland, 
and  the  Franks  on  the  Rhine,  retained  their  ancient  posi- 
tions in  Germany  until  the  migration  of  the  Saxons  to  Eng- 
land ;  of  the  Franks,  to  northern  and  central  Gaul ;  of  the 
Burgundians,  to  the  Rhone  and  the  Alps ;  of  the  Ostrogoths 
and  Longobardi,  to  Italy ;  of  the  Visigoths,  to  the  Pyrenees 
and  Spain ;  and  of  the  Vandals,  to  Africa. 


FROM   PAGANISM   TO    CHRISTIANITY  189 

All  the  tribes  that  settled  within  the  limits  of  the  Roman 
empire  at  first  formed  a  separate  and  warlike  class  of  nobles, 
who  governed  the  inhabitants  in  the-despotic  manner  in  which 
the  Turks  governed  the  Greeks,  but  ere  long  mixed  with  the 
Romans,  and  more  or  less  adopted  their  language.  This 
change  was  more  rapidly  effected  in  Italy,  where  Roman 
influence  was  most  powerful,  on  account  of  the  memory  of 
past  grandeur  and  the  policy  of  the  popes,  who  sought  to 
render  the  Latin  tongue  universal,  in  order  to  facilitate  the 
subjection  of  the  barbarians  of  the  North  to  the  crosier;  and, 
in  fact,  the  Italian  language  retains  more  of  the  ancient  Latin 
tongue,  and  has  been  less  adulterated  with  German,  than  any 
other  of  "Western  Europe. 

In  Spain,  where  the  Germans  formed  the  minority  of  the 
population,  the  Latin  tongue,  which  had  been  orientalized 
by  the  Moors,  who  crossed  over  from  Africa,  was  the  com- 
mon language  of  the  country.  In  Gaul,  the  Franks  retained 
the  pure  German  tongue  until  the  time  of  Charlemagne ;  but, 
at  a  later  period,  when  a  separation  took  place  between  the 
Roman  West  Franks  and  the  Ostro-Franks  of  pure  Ger- 
manic descent,  the  Latin  tongue  was,  through  the  influence 
of  the  Roman  clergy,  generally  adopted  by  the  former.  Va- 
rious dialects  of  the  new  French  tongue  sprang  up  in  Bur- 
gundy, in  the  Visigothic  South,  in  central  Gaul,  and  in  the 
North,  where  the  population  was  partly  composed  of  Britons, 
who  had  fled  thither  from  the  Saxon  in  England,  and  partly 
of  Normans  from  Scandinavia  (Brittany  and  Normandy).  In 
England,  which  had  never  been  entirely  subdued  by  the  Ro- 
mans, the  Latin  tongue  had  not  taken  deep  root,  and  was 
quickly  supplanted  by  that  of  the  Angli  and  Saxons,  who 
migrated  to  that  country,  which  at  once  accounts  for  the 
great  similarity  that  exists  between  English  and  German. 

I  shall  merely  trace  the  steps  of  the  migrating  Germanic 
tribes  until  they  mingle  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  country 
in  which  they  settled,  and  touch  upon  the  affairs  of  England 
and  of  the  Scandinavian  North  in  so  far  as  they  are  illustra- 
tive of  those  of  Germany  (whose  influence  has  ever  spread 


190  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

far  beyond  her  natural  limits,  and  after  affecting  the  his- 
tories of  Italy,  Spain,  and  France,  after  stamping  an  indeli- 
ble character  on  the  Middle  Ages,  has  traveled  with  the 
Spaniard  and  the  Englishman  to  the  far  West,  and  spread 
along  the  shores  of  the  Mississippi,  the  La  Plata,  and  the 
Ganges,  and  over  the  boundless  plains  of  New  Holland), 
lest  in  following  the  winding  of  the  stream  we  may  stray 
too  far  from  the  source.  Our  mother  country,  invigorated 
instead  of  weakened  by  the  migrations,  those  great  drains 
of  her  strength,  has  imparted  a  noble  heritage  of  moral  and 
physical  power  (which  in  former  times  proved  invincible  to 
the  assaults  of  Roman  corruption)  to  the  remotest  branches 
of  the  great  nations  she  still  fosters  in  her  bosom. 


PART   V 

THE  CONTESTS  BETWEEN  THE  GOTHS  AND 
FRANKS 

LXXIX.     Theodorich  the  Great 

DIETRICH  YON  BERN  (Verona),  named  by  the 
Romans  Theodorich  the  Great,  was  sent  by  his 
father,  Theodomir,  as  a  hostage  to  Constantinople, 
where,  notwithstanding  his  Roman  education,  he  retained 
the  customs  of  his  country,  and,  after  his  father's  death, 
succeeded  to  the  Gothic  throne.  On  the  fall  of  the  West- 
ern empire,  Zeno,  emperor  of  Constantinople,  set  up  a  claim 
to  the  possession  of  Italy,  but  being  too  weak  to  reconquer 
that  country,  and  being,  at  the  same  time,  anxious  to  free 
himself  from  the  Goths,  proposed  to  Theodorich  to  make 
himself  master  of  it  in  his  name,  to  which  the  cunning  Goth, 
who  secretly  intended  to  gain  the  prize  for  himself,  easily 
acquiesced.  On  his  line  of  march  lay  three  nations:  a  Slavo- 


CONTESTS   BETWEEN  GOTHS   AND   FRANKS         191 

nian  race,  under  King  Babai,  then  devastating  Greece,  whom 
he  subdued ;  the  Gepidee,  under  King  Gundarich,  whom  he 
defeated  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Danube ;  and  the  Rugii, 
in  the  mountains  leading  to  Italy.  Their  king,  Fava,  had 
just  been  overthrown  by  Odoachar,  and  his  son,  Frederich, 
sought  refuge  and  protection  in  the  camp  of  Theodorich, 
A.D.  487.  The  Ostrogothic  army,  encumbered  with  women 
and  children,  and  swelled  by  numbers  of  the  Rugii  and  other 
Germans,  slowly  wound  its  way  through  the  mountain  passes, 
unopposed  by  Odoachar,  who  awaited  its  approach  on  the 
Isonzo,  not  far  from  Aquileia  on  the  Adriatic,  where  a  bloody 
engagement  took  place,  which  was  followed  by  another  near 
Verona,  A.D.  489,  in  both  of  which  Theodorich  was  victori- 
ous. Tufa,  the  commander  of  Odoachar's  troops,  deserted  his 
master,  but  both  he  and  Frederich  appear  to  have  been  dis- 
appointed in  their  expectations  of  reward,  as  before  long  they 
again  suddenly  changed  sides,  and  Tufa  betrayed  a  number 
of  Gothic  nobles  into  the  power  of  Odoachar,  who  had  taken 
shelter  behind  the  fortifications  of  Ravenna,  and  who,  a  third 
time  venturing  a  battle  on  the  open  field  near  the  Adda,  was 
once  more  compelled  to  retreat  to  the  city,  which,  after  en- 
during a  three  years'  siege,  was  at  length  forced  by  famine 
to  capitulate.  Odoachar  and  his  followers  were  murdered 
at  a  banquet  by  order  of  Theodorich,  who  suspected  them  of 
treason,  A.D.  493.  During  this  contest,  the  Burgundians, 
under  Gundebald,  crossed  the  Alps  and  plundered  the  coun- 
try to  the  rear  of  the  Goths.  Several  thousand  Romans,  who 
had  fallen  into  their  hands,  were  restored  to  liberty  at  the 
entreaty  of  St.  Epiphanius,  who  begged  for  mercy  for  them 
in  the  name  of  Christ.  The  Burgundians  were  afterward 
held  in  check  by  Theodorich,  who  fortified  the  Alpine  passes, 
humbled  the  Gepidae,  the  Heruli,  and  the  Rugii,  protected  the 
Alemanni  in  the  mountains  opposite  Graubiindten,  whither 
they  had  fled  from  the  Franks,  and  sent  his  general,  Pitzia, 
to  the  assistance  of  Mundo,  who  had  formed  a  small  robber 
state,  composed  of  people  of  every  nation,  and  who  was  at 
feud  with  the  Bulgarians,  a  powerful  Slavonian  tribe  menac- 


192  THE  HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

ing  Greece  and  Italy.  The  frontiers  of  his  new  kingdom 
thus  rendered  secure  from  attack,  Theodorich  now  turned 
his  thoughts  to  peace,  and  to  the  internal  regulation  of  the 
state,  and  astonished  the  world,  so  long  habituated  to  scenes 
of  bloodshed  and  treason,  with  the  unusual  spectacle  of  a 
rude  warrior  transformed  into  the  wise  legislator  of  a  new 
and  flourishing  empire.  The  population  had  been  almost 
entirely  swept  away  by  the  devastating  wars,  and  the  third 
part  of  the  lands,  which  had  already  been  seized  by  Odoachar 
for  his  followers,  sufficed  for  the  settlement  of  the  Goths. 
The  ancient  laws  and  warlike  constitution  of  Germany  were 
retained.  The  army  was  composed  solely  of  the  Gothic  popu- 
lation (the  rest  being  prohibited  to  carry  arms),  commanded 
by  the  Grafs.  The  Goths,  being  Arians,  had  their  separate 
church.  They  were  recommended,  by  Theodorich,  to  imi- 
tate the  polished  manners  of  the  Romans,  who  retained  two- 
thirds  of  the  lands,  and  generally  the  cities.  The  prohibition 
to  bear  arms  was  the  only  change  in  their  ancient  privileges. 
The  Catholic  religion  was  protected.  All  theological  dis- 
putes were  put  an  end  to  by  the  practice  of  universal  tol- 
eration; and,  on  one  occasion,  when  a  Catholic,  with  the 
intention  of  flattering  the  king,  professed  Arianism,  Theodo- 
rich condemned  him  to  death,  "for,"  said  he,  "he  who  can 
betray  his  God  will  betray  his  king."  The  morality  prac- 
ticed by  the  Goths  was,  on  the  other  hand,  recommended  to 
the  corrupt  Romans.  Protected  by  a  thirty  years'  peace, 
agriculture,  manufactures,  and  commerce  flourished;  the 
devastated  provinces  regained  their  former  prosperity;  and 
the  great  work  of  draining  the  Pontine  Marshes  was  com- 
menced, and  personally  overlooked  by  Theodorich  from  his 
fortress,  part  of  which  is  still  standing  on  the  high  rock  of 
Terracina. 

In  the  year  500,  during  his  visit  to  Rome  (where  he  did 
not  fix  his  residence,  probably  owing  to  his  desire  to  be  with- 
in reach  of  the  northern  frontier),  he  held  public  games,  in 
imitation  of  the  ancients,  and  adorned  the  city  with  public 
buildings.  His  council  was  composed  of  the  most  learned 


CONTESTS   BETWEEN   GOTHS   AND    FRANKS         193 

men,  among  whom  Cassiodorus,  his  historian  and  first  min- 
ister, and  the  philosopher  Boetius,  are  pre-eminently  distin- 
guished. The  latter,  however,  with  his  father-in-law,  the 
bishop  Symmachus,  and  the  pope  Johannes,  happening  to 
incur  a  strong  suspicion  of  having  abused  the  confidence 
of  the  king,  by  plotting  with  Justinus  the  Greek  emperor 
against  the  Goths,  the  two  former  were  executed,  and  the 
pope  was  thrown  into  prison,  where  he  died.  Dietrich,  al- 
though a  great  war-chief  and  ruler  like  his  predecessors,  is 
manifestly  the  first  German  monarch  who  sought  to  unite 
these  apparently  dissimilar  qualities  with  the  attributes  of  a 
scriptural  king,  of  a  shepherd  chosen  by  God  to  lead  his  peo- 
ple. Many  of  his  letters,  and  the  records  of  the  judgments 
pronounced  by  him,  are  still  extant,  and  might  serve  as 
models  for  any  sovereign.  They  also  prove  the  zeal  with 
which  he  strove  to  promulgate  his  conception  of  the  duties 
of  a  monarch,  among  other  royal  families,  and  among  other 
nations  than  his  own;  and  although  the  German  monarchs 
continued  to  be  elected  by  the  people,  and  to  be  dependent 
on  the  state  assembly,  yet  the  belief  of  the  divine  majesty 
of  kings,  and  of  their  being  the  representatives  of  God  upon 
earth,  may  be  traced  to  this  period.  Dietrich,  in  his  abhor- 
rence of  the  cold,  stern  despotism  of  imperial  Rome,  had 
conceived  a  far  more  elevated  project,  which  he  deemed  the 
noblest  aim  of  every  true-born  German;  viz.,  the  union  of 
the  states  of  Germany.  In  pursuance  of  this  scheme,  he 
sought,  by  promoting  intermarriages  between  the  different 
royal  families  of  Germany,  to  unite  them  in  one  common 
interest,  and  by  this  means  to  render  peace  general.  For 
this  purpose,  he  married  his  daughters,  Theodicusa  and  Os- 
trogotha,  to  Alaric,  king  of  the  Visigoths,  and  to  Sigismund, 
son  of  Gundebald,  king  of  Burgundy;  his  sister,  Amalfreda, 
to  Thrasimund,  king  of  the  Vandals;  and  Amalberga,  her 
daughter  by  a  former  husband,  to  Hermanfried,  king  of 
Thuringia ;  all  of  whom  he  sought,  by  his  letters,  to  incline 
to  his  project.  The  reverence  he  universally  inspired,  as  the 
father  of  kings,  was  so  great  that  his  fame  spread  even  to 
GERMANY.  VOL.  I.— 9 


194  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

the  distant  nation  of  the  Aesthri  on  the  Baltic,  who  sent 
him  gifts.  The  union  and  pacification  of  the  royal  houses 
of  Germany  was  prevented,  and  his  great  plan  destroyed, 
by  the  jealousy  of  the  Franks,  who,  although  allied  with 
him  by  his  marriage  with  Audifleda,  the  sister  of  Chlodwig, 
the  great  Frankish  monarch,  continued  to  cherish  their  an- 
cient enmity  against  the  Goths.  The  kingdom  of  the  Visi- 
goths was  invaded  by  Chlodwig.  The  brave  Thorismund, 
the  conqueror  of  Attila,  fell  by  the  hand  of  his  brother  Theo- 
dorich,  who,  in  his  turn,  was  murdered  by  the  third  brother, 
Eurich,  a  prince  famed  for  his  valor  and  code  of  laws.  Alaric, 
his  son  and  successor,  being  defeated  and  killed  by  the  Franks 
at  the  battle  of  Vougle,  A.D.  507,  Theodorich  sent  an  Ostro- 
gothic  army,  under  the  command  of  Ibbas,  to  the  assistance 
of  his  daughter,  the  widow  of  Alaric,  and  of  her  young  son, 
Amalarich.  Ibbas  defeated  the  Franks  on  the  Rhone,  and 
compelled  them  to  subscribe  to  a  treaty  of  peace,  by  which 
Gascony  and  Guyenne  were  ceded  to  them,  and  Languedoc 
was  left  in  the  possession  of  the  Visigoths.  Gasalrich,  Al- 
aric's  natural  son,  who  had  caused  himself  to  be  proclaimed 
king  of  Barcelona,  and  had  usurped  the  throne  of  Amala- 
rich, was  also  defeated  by  Ibbas. 

Theodorich  the  Great  is  said  to  have  died  of  fright,  A.D. 
526,  at  sight  of  a  fish's  head  placed  before  him  at  table, 
which  bore  an  imaginary  resemblance  to  the  countenance 
of  the  innocent  bishop  Symmachus,  whom  he  had  murdered. 
According  to  the  popular  tradition  of  Italy,  the  soul  of  this 
great  king  was  doomed  to  suffer  eternal  torment  amid  the 
flames  of  --Etna 

LXXX.   Chlodwig 

REMARKABLE  events  were,  meanwhile,  passing  among 
the  Franks,  who  still  remained  divided,  Childerich,  the  son 
of  Merowig,  reigning  over  the  Salii,  and  Sigismir,  the  son 
of  Claudebald,  over  the  Ripuarii,  at  Cologne.  The  Franks, 
outraged  in  their  domestic  honor  by  the  voluptuous  and  li- 


CONTESTS   BETWEEN    GOTHS   AND   FRANKS         195 

centious  Childerich,  drove  Mm  from  the  kingdom  and  be- 
stowed the  crown  upon  -<3£gidius,  the  last  Roman  governor 
of  Gaul ;  a  choice  only  possible  among  the  Salii,  who  had 
long  been  accustomed  to  serve  under  Roman  generals.  The 
deposed  monarch  fled  to  his  relative,  Bisinus,  king  of  Thu- 
ringia.  The  Thuringians  appear  to  have  been  originally 
connected  with  the  Franks,  and  at  some  later  period  to  have 
mixed  with  the  Saxons  and  their  Gothic  neighbors,  the  Va- 
rini  and  Angli.  A  faithful  servant  of  the  exiled  king,  named 
Wiomad,  undertook  to  restore  his  master  to  the  throne,  and 
breaking  a  gold  piece  with  him,  half  of  which  he  was  to 
send  in  token  of  the  time  having  arrived  for  his  return  to 
his  native  country,  insidiously  attached  himself  to  -*35gidius, 
whom  he  persuaded  to  tax  the  Franks  according  to  the  Ro- 
man custom ;  an  innovation  which  he  rightly  judged  would 
cause  his  expulsion.  Childerich,  meanwhile,  repaid  the  hos- 
pitality of  Bisinus  by  debauching  his  wife,  Basina,  with 
whom  he  carried  on  a  clandestine  intercourse.  The  broken 
bit  of  gold  was  at  length  delivered  to  him  by  a  trusty  Frank, 
and  he  secretly  returned  to  his  country,  where  he  was  gladly 
received  and  replaced  on  the  throne  by  the  discontented  Salii. 
Basina,  enslaved  by  passion,  soon  after  escaped  from  Thu- 
ringia  to  the  court  of  her  lover,  who  made  her  his  wife,  and 
she  became  the  mother  of  Chlodwig  the  Great.  The  Thu- 
ringians, enraged  at  this  breach  of  hospitality,  invaded  and 
laid  waste  the  country  of  the  Salii,  fearfully  revenging  on 
the  subjects  who  tolerated  such  disgraceful  conduct  in  their 
ruler  the  injury  offered  to  their  king.  Two  hundred  Frank- 
ish  maidens  were  crushed  beneath  their  chariot- wheels,  as 
an  expiatory  sacrifice  to  violated  chastity.  Childerich,  aided 
by  Odoachar,  subdued  the  Alemanni.  His  tomb,  which  was 
discovered  at  Tournay  in  1653,  contained  a  golden  bull's  head 
and  several  golden  bees,  evidently  heathen  symbols. 

Chlodwig,  brave,  energetic,  and  warlike,  turned  his 
thoughts  to  more  ambitious  projects  than  his  father,  and, 
taking  advantage  of  the  distressed  state  of  the  Ripuarii,  at 
that  time  oppressed  by  the  Alemanni,  imposed  an  oath  of 


196  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

fealty  on  their  king,  Sigebert,  the  son  of  Sigismir,  and  re>- 
united  the  whole  Frankish  nation.  He  then  attacked  Si- 
agrius,  the  son  of  JEgidius,  who  still  maintained  an  inde- 
pendent Roman  government  in  central  Gaul,  and,  after 
gaining  a  decisive  victory  at  Soissons,  took  possession  of 
the  whole  of  Gaul  as  far  as  the  Visigothic  frontier.  This 
success  attracted  the  attention  of  his  German  neighbors,  the 
Burgundians,  Alemanni,  and  Visigoths,  all  of  whom  he  at- 
tempted to  circumvent.  Chlotilda,  the  daughter  of  Hilpe- 
rich,  king  of  Burgundy,  who  had  been  murdered  by  his 
brother  Gundebald,  was  at  that  time  living  in  retirement 
in  a  nunnery  at  Geneva.  The  fame  of  her  beauty  reached 
the  ears  of  Chlodwig,  who  resolved  to  get  her  into  his  pos- 
session, and  to  set  up  a  claim  to  the  throne  of  Burgundy. 
He  accordingly  dispatched  the  trusty  Aurelian  to  Geneva, 
where,  disguised  as  a  beggar,  his  feet  were  washed  by  the 
royal  nun.  Dropping  the  monarch's  ring  into  the  water, 
he  discovered  himself  to  her,  and  she  joyfully  consented  to 
wed  the  brave  Chlodwig,  upon  which  the  beggar  disappeared, 
and  in  due  time  a  splendid  embassy  arrived  at  the  Burgun- 
dian  court  to  demand  the  bride.  Chlotilda  produced  the 
token,  and  Gundebald,  fearing  the  consequence  of  a  refusal, 
gave  his  consent.  She  set  out  for  the  frontier  in  a  chariot 
drawn  by  oxen,  burning  and  destroying  the  dwellings  of  the 
Burgundians  as  she  advanced,  in  revenge  for  the  murder  of 
her  father,  and  being  closely  pursued  by  Gundebald,  fled  on 
a  swift  horse  to  the  palace  of  Chlodwig.  Her  firstborn  son 
died  in  his  infancy.  On  the  birth  of  the  second,  she  entreated 
her  husband  to  allow  him  to  be  baptized  in  the  Christian  faith, 
to  which  she  belonged.  He  consented,  and  the  life  of  the 
child  was  spared. 

The  execution  of  Chlodwig5 s  plans  against  Burgundy  was 
delayed  by  the  revolt  of  the  Alemanni,  who  viewed  the  in- 
troduction of  the  feudal  system  into  the  provinces,  and  his 
armed  followers,  with  suspicion  and  dislike,  as  indicative  of 
a  design  upcn  their  national  liberty  and  independence.  United 
under  several  leaders;  they  attacked  the  Franks,  who  had  also 


CONTESTS   BETWEEN   GOTHS   AND   FRANKS         197 

anited  beneath  the  standard  of  Chlodwig,  at  whose  side 
fought  Sigebert  of  Cologne.  The  battle  of  Zulpich  decided 
the  contest,  A.D.  496.  At  one  moment  the  enthusiastic  spirit 
of  the  Alemanni  threatened  to  overpower  the  superior  disci- 
pline of  the  Franks,  and  Chlodwig,  excited  by  the  peril,  in- 
voked the  God  of  his  wife,  and  vowed  to  forsake  the  religion 
of  his  fathers  if  he  proved  more  powerful  than  Odin,  the  war- 
god  of  the  Alemanni.  He  was  victorious,  and  the  majority 
of  his  subjects,  converted  by  the  supposed  miracle  in  their 
favor,  were  solemnly  baptized  with  the  king.  The  ceremony 
took  place  at  E-heims.  The  legend  relates  that  the  vial  of 
oil  with  which  St.  Remigius  anointed  the  monarch's  head 
was  brought  for  that  purpose  by  an  angel  from  heaven,  and 
that  the  saint  exclaimed,  while  pouring  the  contents  on  the 
head  of  the  king  as  he  knelt  before  him,  "Bow  down  thine 
head,  O  Sicamber,  and  adore  what  hitherto  thou  hast  de- 
stroyed; destroy  what  hitherto  thou  hast  adored!"  The 
whole  transaction  was  probably  a  wily  invention  on  the 
part  of  Chlodwig,  who,  hoping,  by  the  assistance  of  the 
priests,  to  bring  his  wild  Franks  into  subjection,  seized  this 
opportunity  to  convert  them  without  endangering  himself. 
From  this  period,  the  Roman  bishops,  or  popes,  and  the 
FranMsh  monarchs  mutually  supported  each  other,  either 
against  the  Arian  Goths,  the  Greeks,  or  the  German  pagans. 
Ere  long,  the  whole  of  the  Frankish  nation  embraced  Chris- 
tianity, and  the  Alemanni  gradually  became  converts  to  the 
God  of  victory. 

Chlodwig,  urged  by  the  revengeful  spirit  of  his  queen, 
and,  moreover,  anxious  to  secure  the  Alpine  passes  in  Upper 
Burgundy,  at  length  declared  war  with  that  country,  but 
finding  that  Gundebald  was  too  strongly  posted  for  him  to 
hope  for  success,  contented  himself  with  receiving  his  oath 
of  allegiance,  and  incited  by  the  Catholic  bishops,  who  im- 
patiently desired  the  extirpation  of  Arianism  in  Gaul,  turned 
his  arms  against  the  Visigoths,  whom  he  expected  to  over- 
come with  greater  facility.  Alaric,  the  unworthy  son  of  the 
brave  Eurich,  fell  in  the  battle  of  Poictiers  by  the  hand  of 


198  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

the  victorious  king  of  the  Franks,  A.D.  507,  by  whom  he 
was  justly  held  in  contempt  for  the  cowardice  with  which 
he  had  delivered  up  to  them  his  guest,  Siagrius,  who  had 
fled  to  him  for  safety.  Theodorich  the  Great,  king  of  the 
Ostrogoths,  now  took  up  arms  in  defense  of  the  youthful  son 
of  Alaric,  and  a  second  engagement  took  place  near  Aries, 
which  proved  disastrous  to  Chlodwig,  who  was  forced  to 
retreat,  after  leaving  30,000  of  his  men  on  the  field  of  bat- 
tle. Finding  himself  compelled  to  leave  the  Visigoths  in 
peace,  he  fell  upon  Brittany,  A.D.  509,  and  constrained  the 
Britons,  its  new  inhabitants,  who  had  been  driven  from 
England  by  the  Saxons,  to  do  him  homage.  It  was  a  fort- 
unate circumstance  for  Chlodwig  that  his  neighbors,  instead 
of  uniting,  fought  singly,  in  self-defense.  Had  they  confed- 
erated against  the  Franks,  the  rising  power  of  that  nation 
must  have  been  completely  checked.  The  ancient  name  of 
Gaul  was  changed  by  this  monarch  to  that  of  France. 

Chlodwig,  whose  conquests  and  largesses  had  given  him 
unlimited  control  over  his  troops,  and  had  consolidated  his 
power,  now  turned  his  attention  to  the  internal  regulation  of 
his  kingdom,  and  sought,  by  the  removal  of  the  subordinate 
kings,  and  by  the  more  general  adoption  of  the  feudal  sys- 
tem, to  keep  the  nation  united  beneath  his  jurisdiction  in 
time  of  peace  as  well  as  war.  His  treatment  of  his  Mero- 
vingian relatives,  the  subordinate  kings,  was  one  tissue  of 
treachery  'and  cruelty.  His  ancient  ally,  Sigebert  of  Co- 
logne, who  was  disabled  by  a  wound  received  at  the  battle 
of  Ziilpich,  was,  at  his  instigation,  murdered  by  his  own  son, 
Chloderich,  whom  he  deluded  by  promises,  and  also  caused 
to  be  put  to  death.  He  was  stabbed  in  the  back  by  an  as- 
sassin, when  in  the  act  of  bending  down  to  look  into  a  chest 
that  contained  his  father's  treasures,  which  he  deluged  with 
his  blood.  Ragnachar  of  Cambray,  and  his  brother,  two  of 
the  Merovingians,  fell  by  Chlodwig's  hand.  Chararic  of 
Flanders  and  his  son,  a  little  child,  were  condemned  to  the 
cloister.  While  being  deprived  of  their  long  hair,  the  sym- 
bol of  royalty,  the  boy  remarked,  ' '  Our  hair  will  soon  grow 


CONTESTS   BETWEEN    GOTHS   AND   FRANKS         199 

long  again!"  upon  which  Chlodwig,  provident  of  the  future, 
caused  them  both  to  be  murdered. 

By  means  of  the  imposition  of  feudal  service,  the  disci- 
pline habitual  in  war  time  was  continued  during  peace,  and 
shackled  the  freedom  of  the  people.  At  the  commencement 
of  this  reign,  the  Franks  were  extremely  republican  in  their 
manners.  It  is  related,  that  after  the  battle  of  Soissons  the 
booty  had  been  equally  divided  among  the  troops.  One  of 
the  men,  a  common  Frank,  had  received  for  his  portion  a 
sacred  jar,  which  he  obstinately  refused  to  restore  when  en- 
treated to  do  so  by  one  of  the  bishops,  and  upon  its  restitu- 
tion being  requested  by  Chlodwig,  insolently  replied,  "that 
he  was  only  bound  to  obey  him  during  battle,  and  not  after- 
ward," and  broke  the  jar  into  pieces.  Some  time  after  this 
occurrence,  the  king,  who  had  not  forgotten  conduct  which 
he  was  legally  unable  to  punish,  took  advantage  of  the  army 
being  drawn  up  in  battle  array  to  ride  up  to  the  insolent 
soldier  and  to  cut  him  down  under  pretext  of  misbehavior. 

The  feudal  system  was  universally  adopted  throughout 
France  before  the  conclusion  of  this  reign.  During  peace, 
Chlodwig  was  surrounded  by  his  Antrustiones,  or  trusty  fol- 
lowers, whom  he  rewarded  with  rich  lands  in  the  conquered 
provinces,  and  who  formed  a  new  order  of  nobles,  from 
whom  he  selected  the  Grafs.  This  class  of  nobility  ere  long 
possessed  all  the  honor,  all  the  influence,  and,  by  means  of 
the  feudal  system,  all  the  wealth  of  the  country,  and  leagu- 
ing with  the  priests,  at  length  succeeded  in  crushing  popular 
freedom.  Thus  Chlodwig,  who  died  in  511,  laid  the  ground- 
work for  a  complete  revolution  in  the  internal  policy  of 
Germany. 

LXXXI.    Gundebald 

WHILE  the  Burgundians,  weakened  by  the  destruction  of 
Gunthachar,  and  pressed  by  the  Huns,  were  driven  to  the 
banks  of  the  Rhone,  Alsace,  with  their  capital,  "Worms,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Alemanni.  In  their  new  kingdom, 
which,  traversed  by  the  Rhone,  extended  beyond  Lyons, 


5iOO  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

they  founded  the  city  of  Bormio  (named  after  their  ancient 
capital,  Worms),  on  the  other  side  of  the  Alps,  where  they 
bend  toward  Italy.  The  history  of  this  new  settlement  is 
somewhat  obscure.  The  Burgundians  are  said  to  have  been 
converted  to  Christianity  by  a  bishop  who  preached  to  them 
for  seven  successive  days.  They  were,  at  one  time,  in  alli- 
ance with  JEtius,  who  granted  the  highlands  to  them.  After 
the  fall  of  the  Western  empire,  they  treated  with  Constanti- 
nople. In  their  new  kingdom,  two-thirds  of  the  land  was 
allotted  to  them,  the  remaining  third  to  the  Romans,  and 
each  nation  was  governed  by  its  own  laws.  The  land  was 
divided  into  Gauen,  or  districts,  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
Grafs,  whose  authority  was  unlimited,  while  that  of  the 
king  or  chief  did  not  exceed  that  of  a  duke.  The  first  king 
of  Upper  Burgundy  who  succeeded  Gunthachar  was  Gun- 
dioch,  a  descendant  of  the  Visigothic  Balti.  At  his  death, 
the  kingdom  was  divided  between  his  four  sons ;  Hilperich, 
who  reigned  at  Geneva,  Godegisel,  at  Besancon,  Gundebald, 
at  Lyons,  and  Godemar,  at  Vienne.  Harmony  was  not  of 
long  duration.  Gundebald,  a  man  of  higher  talent  and  en- 
terprise than  his  brethren,  grasped  at  sole  dominion  (his 
daring  invasion  of  Italy,  while  Theodorich  the  Great  was 
engaged  with  Odoachar,  has  been  already  mentioned),  and 
quarreling  with  Hilperich,  defeated  and  cruelly  murdered 
him,  together  with  his  family,  with  the  exception  of  Chlo- 
tilda,  one  of  his  daughters,  who  subsequently  married  Chlod- 
wig,  A.D.  499.  After  a  short  contest,  he  swore  allegiance  to 
the  Frankish  monarch,  but,  emboldened  by  the  lenity  with 
which  he  was  treated,  and  trusting  in  the  strength  of  his 
mountain  fastnesses,  he  again  attacked  his  brothers,  and, 
after  destroying  the  kingdom  of  Godegisel,  once  more  re- 
treated to  his  mountains  on  the  approach  of  the  Franks  and 
the  Ostrogoths  from  opposite  quarters,  who  finally  concluded 
peace  with  him,  and  Dietrich  gave  his  daughter  Ostrogotha 
in  marriage  to  Sigismund,  the  son  of  the  usurper.  Gunde- 
bald was  the  reformer  of  his  country.  Gifted  with  more 
than  ordinary  talent,  and  with  a  mind  highly  cultivated  for 


CONTESTS   BETWEEN   GOTHS    AND    FRANKS         201 

the  age  in  which  he  lived,  he  saw  the  advantage,  and  inces- 
santly aimed  at  the  realization,  of  union  in  the  state  and  the 
increase  of  the  royal  prerogative,  but,  incautiously  venturing 
too  far,  he  was  vehemently  opposed  in  his  projects  by  the 
Grafs  of  the  districts,  A.D.  502,  who,  on  one  occasion,  at 
Geneva,  forced  him  to  withdraw  his  code  of  laws,  which 
they  replaced  by  another,  entitled  the  Lex  Gundebada, 
which  is  still  in  existence,  signed  by  thirty-six  Grafs.  Gun- 
debald  died  in  516. 

LXXXII.    The  Extension  of  France  Under  the  Sons 
of  Chlodwig 

THE  superiority  of  the  Franks  over  the  other  nations  of 
Germany  was  owing  to  both  their  natural  and  acquired  ad- 
vantages. Ingenious,  brave,  and  enterprising,  trained  to 
war,  accustomed  to  victory,  fired  by  ambition,  and  favored 
by  their  position  in  the  center  of  the  German  states,  they 
easily  acquired  and  maintained  a  power  with  which,  taken 
singly,  none  of  the  other  states  was  able  to  compete,  and 
which  their  religious  zeal  rendered  peculiarly  formidable  to 
the  Saxons,  while  their  central  position,  between  the  Ostro- 
goths in  Italy  and  the  Visigoths  in  the  Pyrenees,  offered 
every  facility  for  taking  advantage  of  the  want  of  unity  be- 
tween the  two  nations.  Nor  were  these  circumstances  over- 
looked by  the  bishop  of  Rome,  whose  influence  over  the  other 
bishops  of  the  West,  and  the  Catholic  populations  of  Italy, 
Gaul,  and  Spain,  was  gradually  increasing,  and  who  accel- 
erated the  downfall  of  the  Arian  Goths  by  exciting  the  fanat- 
ical spirit  of  the  Franks  and  their  allies  against  them. 

Chlodwig  divided  France  into  four  kingdoms,  the  largest 
and  most  important  of  which,  the  Rhine  country,  Austria  or 
Austrasia,  with  its  capital,  Metz,  was  bestowed  upon  Theo- 
dorich,  his  eldest  son ;  and  Neustria,  with  its  capital,  Orleans, 
on  Chlodomir;  while  Childebert  reigned  at  Paris,  and  Chlo- 
tar  at  Soissons.  The  separation  of  Austria  from  Neustria 
was  subsequently  widened  by  the  different  manners  of  the 


202  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

two  nations,  the  former  remaining  faithful  to  the  ancient 
customs  of  Germany,  while  the  latter  adopted  those  of  Rome. 
Each  of  the  sons  of  Chlodwig  bore  the  title  and  exercised 
the  authority  of  king,  although  they  were  in  a  manner 
dependent  upon  each  other,  and  were  bound  together  by 
the  union  of  the  Frankish  nation,  the  general  state  assem- 
bly, the  laws,  and  their  own  interest.  This  strange  and 
dangerous  division  of  the  kingdom  of  Chlodwig,  destructive 
to  the  power  and  unity  of  the  state,  arose  from  the  political 
inexperience  of  the  Franks,  whose  kings  were  of  very  recent 
date,  and  who  had  made  no  provision  (beyond  that  of  the 
law  common  among  the  Salii,  by  which  the  inheritance  was 
equally  divided  between  the  sons)  for  the  succession  to  the 
throne.  This  law  was  also  in  practice  among  the  Thurin- 
gians  and  the  Burgundians,  and  had,  at  a  very  remote 
period,  been  common  to  all  the  Scandinavian  nations.  It 
was  retained  by  the  Franks  for  more  than  three  centuries 
after  the  death  of  Chlodwig. 

The  kings  of  Neustria  and  Austria  extended  their  posses- 
sions by  the  sword.  Chlodomir  subdued  the  Burgundians, 
and  strengthened  his  dominion  in  the  West,  while  Theodo- 
rich  and  his  son,  Theobert,  conquered  Thuringia,  drove  the 
Ostrogoths  from  the  Alps,  and  compelled  the  dukes  of  the 
Bojoarii  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance. 

Saxony,  still  as  formidable  as  in  ancient  times,  was  the 
only  German  state  left  undisturbed  by  the  Franks,  notwith- 
standing the  vicinity  of  their  frontiers,  which  at  some  points 
ran  parallel;  a  circumstance  highly  obnoxious  to  France, 
which,  before  long,  strove  to  crush  the  neighboring  state 
with  an  unremitting  animosity  equaling  that  displayed  by 
Rome  in  her  attacks  upon  the  free  nations  of  Germany. 

LXXXIII.   Fall  of  the  Kingdoms  of  Thuringia  and 
Burgundy 

THE  origin  of  the  Thuringii  has  been  derived  from  the 
Hermunduri  or  from  the  Therwingi.  The  name  bears  a  re- 


CONTESTS   BETWEEN   QOTHS   AND   FRANKS         203 

semblance  to  that  of  the  god  Thor.  The  derivation  from  the 
name  given  to  the  Cherusci,  who,  according  to  Tacitus,  were 
called  Thoren,  fools  (stulti),  on  account  of  the  depravity  of 
their  manners,  is  a  mere  play  upon  sounds.  They  seem,  at  a 
later  period,  to  have  been  connected  with  the  Suevian  Angli 
and  Varini  (on  the  Werra),  the  latter  of  whom  maintained 
an  independent  monarchy  until  595. 

Bisinus,  to  whom  Childerich  had  fled  for  safety,  was  re- 
lated to  the  Merovingians,  and  this  part  of  the  Thuringian 
nation  appears  to  have  been  originally  connected  with  the 
Franks.  The  kingdom  of  Bisinus  was  divided  between  his 
sons,  Hermanfried,  Berthar,  and  Baldrich ;  the  first  of  whom 
married  Amalberga,  the  daughter  of  Dietrich  the  Ostrogoth. 
This  wily  princess  contrived,  by  half  covering  his  table,  in 
sign  of  his  only  possessing  half  a  kingdom,  to  rouse  the  am- 
bition of  her  husband,  who  surprised  and  killed  Berthar,  and 
in  order  to  strengthen  himself  against  Baldrich,  who  was 
more  on  his  guard,  entered  into  an  alliance  with  Theodorich, 
king  of  Austrasia,  by  whom  Baldrich  was  subsequently  de- 
feated and  slain.  Hermanfried  afterward  refusing  to  divide 
his  ill- won  kingdom  with  the  Franks,  they  united  with  the 
Saxons  and  defeated  him  in  a  pitched  battle  near  Scheidin- 
gen,  A.D.  529.  A  plot,  laid  by  Iring,  a  cunning  Thuringian, 
who  attempted  to  sow  discord  between  the  allies  by  persuad- 
ing the  Franks  to  make  peace  with  his  nation  and  to  deprive 
the  Saxons  of  their  share  of  the  booty,  was  discovered  by 
Hadegast,  the  old  Saxon  duke,  who  instantly  attacked  and 
completely  subdued  the  whole  of  Thuringia.  Theodorich, 
under  pretense  of  an  amicable  settlement  of  affairs,  invited 
Hermanfried  to  Zulpich,  where,  while  engaged  in  conversa- 
tion with  him  on  the  castle  wall,  on  which  they  were  walk- 
ing, he  had  him  suddenly  pushed,  as  if  accidentally,  down 
the  precipice.  Thus  ended  the  unfortunate  dynasty  of  the 
kings  of  Thuringia,  A.D.  530. 

The  northern  part  of  the  country  fell  a  prey  to  the  Sax- 
ons, and  the  Franks  seized  that  to  the  south  of  the  Unstrutt, 
but  during  the  subsequent  disturbances  in  France,  Thuringia 


204  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

regained  much  of  her  former  independence,  and  was  again 
governed  by  heathen  dukes,  who  paid  an  annual  tribute  of 
five  hundred  pigs  to  the  Australian  monarch. 

One  noble  and  interesting  character  presents  a  bright 
contrast  with  the  coarse  brutality  that  distinguished  these 
royal  dynasties,  that  of  Radegunda,  the  daughter  of  Ber- 
thar,  the  only  descendant  of  the  royal  house  of  Thuringia, 
who  was  celebrated  for  her  extraordinary  beauty,  and  whose 
possession  was  disputed  by  Theodorich  of  Metz  and  Chlotar 
of  Orleans,  the  latter  of  whom  gained  the  prize.  Regardless 
of  worldly  splendor,  Radegunda  sought  only  to  indulge  in 
seclusion  her  grief  for  her  murdered  family,  and  to  spend 
her  days  in  prayer  and  in  acts  of  beneficence.  Chlotar,  at 
length  weary  of  her  piety,  repudiated  and  imprisoned  her  in 
a  convent,  where  she  was  honored  as  a  saint.  Venantius 
Fortunatus,  the  Latin  poet,  sang  her  praise  in  glowing  verse. 
Nicetius,  bishop  of  Treves,  and  Sidonius,  bishop  of  Mayence, 
vainly  emulated  the  attempts  of  this  unfortunate  princess  to 
moderate  the  savage  passions  of  the  brother  kings.  Theodo- 
rich murdered  Siwald,  a  descendant  of  a  side-branch  of  the 
Merovingian  race,  but  spared  his  son,  Garibald,  then  a 
young  child,  and  sent  him  to  be  educated  at  Rome.  He 
afterward  made  him  duke  of  Bavaria.  Garibald  was  the 
father  of  the  celebrated  Theodolinda,  and  the  founder  of 
the  Agilofingian  dynasty.  The  Bavarians  (Bajuvarii)  evi- 
dently derive  their  name  from  the  ancient  country  of  the 
Boii,  and  date  from  the  Gothic  migration.  They  are  first 
met  with  in  history  as  seeking  protection  from  the  Franks  and 
Alemanni  against  the  Avari,  who  then  devastated  the  coun- 
try in  their  advance  westward,  and  from  whom  they  were  no 
•sooner  delivered  than  they  became  insolent  and  rebellious. 
The  elevation  of  Garibald  to  the  ducal  dignity  was  probably 
occasioned  by  a  fresh  invasion  of  Bavaria  by  the  Avari. 
Siegmund  succeeded  his  father,  Gundebald,  on  the  throne  of 
Burgundy,  and,  on  the  death  of  his  Ostrogothic  queen,  mar- 
ried her  waiting-woman,  who,  being  mocked,  on  account  of 
the  awkwardness  with  which  she  moved  in  her  royal  robes, 


CONTESTS   BETWEEN    GOTHS   AND   FRANKS         205 

by  her  little  stepson,  Siegerich,  revenged  herself  by  persuad- 
ing his  father  to  murder  him  in  his  sleep.  The  Burgun- 
dians,  horror-struck  at  the  deed,  rebelled;  the  Franks, 
headed  by  Chlodomir  of  Orleans,  invaded  the  country,  and 
Siegmund,  universally  deserted  by  his  subjects,  fled  to  the 
monastery  of  St.  Maurice  in  Valais.  His  retreat  was  dis- 
covered, and  he  was  carried  to  Orleans,  where  he  was  mur- 
dered, and  his  wife  and  child  were  drowned  in  a  well,  A.D. 
524.  His  uncle  Godemar,  meanwhile,  headed  the  Burgun- 
dians  against  the  Franks,  and  Chlodomir  was  defeated  and 
killed.  Chlotilda,  undeterred  by  the  fate  of  her  son,  contin- 
ued to  incite  his  brothers  against  Burgundy.  The  brave 
Godemar  at  length  disappeared,  after  a  last  and  desperate 
battle,  and  the  country,  which  however  still  continued  to  be 
governed  by  its  national  laws,  was  annexed,  by  Childebert 
and  Chlotar,  to  France. 

LXXXIV.  Fall  of  the  Kingdom  of  the  Vandals 

AFTER  the  death  of  Geiserich,  Hunerich,  his  son,  mounted 
the  throne,  and  instead  of  carrying  into  execution  the  ambi- 
tious projects  of  his  father,  instantly  concluded  peace  with 
Rome.  Conscious  of  the  disgust  with  which  he  had  inspired 
his  subjects  by  his  vicious  propensities,  and  suspecting  that 
they  intended  to  depose  him  in  favor  of  his  brother,  Theoclo- 
rich,  he  caused  him  to  be  murdered,  together  with  his  wife 
and  children.  His  father,  although  an  Arian,  had  treated 
the  Catholics  with  the  greatest  lenity,  hi  the  hope  of  winning 
them  over.  They  were  now  cruelly  persecuted  by  Hunerich, 
who  condemned  lodocus,  the  patriarch  of  Carthage,  to  be 
burned  alive  in  the  market-place,  closed  all  the  monasteries 
and  Catholic  churches,  and  sentenced  the  priests,  monks, 
and  nuns  to  be  broken  on  the  wheel  or  driven  naked  out  of 
the  country.  His  wife,  the  pious  Eudoxia,  the  Roman  cap- 
tive, fled  for  protection  from  his  tyranny  to  the  sepulcher  at 
Jerusalem.  At  length,  the  warlike  Moors  of  Mount  Atlas, 
taking  advantage  of  his  unpopularity,  poured  in  thousands 


206  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

from  their  valleys,  and  carried  on  a  war  of  extermination 
against  the  strangers  of  the  North,  A.D.  486.  Hunerich  was 
succeeded  by  his  nephews,  Gundamund  and  Trasamund. 
Amalfrida,  the  sister  of  Theodorich  the  Great,  became  the 
wife  of  Trasamund,  and  brought  over  5,000  Gothic  nobles 
to  assist  her  husband  against  the  victorious  Moors.  Trasa- 
mund was  succeeded  by  Hilderich,  the  son  of  Hunerich,  who 
imprisoned  Amalfrida,  put  her  Gothic  followers  to  death, 
and  entered  into  an  alliance  with  the  emperor  Justinian,  his 
hereditary  foe.  The  Vandals  before  long  discovered  their 
folly,  and,  deposing  Hilderich,  raised  Gelimer,  a  distant 
branch  of  the  royal  family,  to  the  throne.  But  treason  was 
already  at  work.  Godas  the  Goth,  who  had  been  intrusted 
by  Gelimer  with  the  government  of  Sardinia,  went  over  to 
Justinian,  who  dispatched  Belisarius,  his  celebrated  general, 
at  the  head  of  an  army  more  than  100,000  strong,  including 
numbers  of  Huns  and  Heruli,  to  Africa,  A.D.  533.  Amma- 
tas,  Gelimer's  brother,  fell  a  victim  to  his  own  impetuosity 
in  the  first  battle,  and  the  king,  after  bravely  defending  his 
brother's  body  to  the  last,  was  finally  compelled  to  retreat  to 
the  mountains,  instead  of  throwing  himself  into  Carthage, 
which  yielded  at  discretion.  Too  weak  singly  to  face  the 
enemy,  Gelimer  anxiously  awaited  the  return  of  his  friend, 
Tzazon,  whom  he  had  sent,  at  the  head  of  a  Vandal  force, 
to  Sardinia,  where  he  was  victorious  over  Godas.  On  his 
return,  Gelimer  once  more  took  the  field,  and  another  battle 
was  fought,  in  which  Tzazon  was  killed,  and  the  royal  treas- 
ure fell  into  the  hands  of  the  conqueror.  Accompanied  by  a 
few  faithful  adherents,  Gelimer  again  fled  to  his  mountain 
stronghold.  Pharos,  a  Herule  in  the  imperial  service,  who 
was  sent  to  persuade  him  to  yield  and  to  enlist  beneath  the 
imperial  standard,  vainly  sought  by  bribe  and  flattery  to 
bring  him  to  submission.  The  Vandal  king  replied  that  he 
only  wished  for  three  things,  a  loaf,  as  it  was  long  since 
he  had  tasted  bread,  a  sponge,  with  which  to  bathe  his  eyes, 
scorched  by  the  glare  of  the  noontide  sun  on  the  bare  rocks, 
and  a  lute,  to  soothe  his  sorrows,  all  which  Pharos  brought 


CONTESTS   BETWEEN    GOTB*     AND    FRANKS         207 

to  him.  At  length  his  position  became  intolerable,  and  one 
day  seeing  one  of  his  nephews  fighting,  as  if  for  life,  with 
another  boy,  for  a  small  piece  of  dough,  their  last  remnant 
of  food,  he  was  completely  discouraged,  and  surrendered  to 
Belisarius,  who  treated  him  with  great  respect,  but  made 
him  grace  his  triumphal  entry  into  Constantinople,  bound 
with  silver  chains.  The  Vandal  prisoners  entered  into  the 
imperial  service,  and  were  employed  against  the  Persians. 
Some  thousands  of  their  countrymen,  who  had  scattered 
themselves  among  the  mountains,  reassembled  under  Stot- 
zas,  and  made  common  cause  with  the  Moors  against  the 
Romans.  A  long  and  harassing  war  ensued,  during  which 
Stotzas  was  killed.  He  was  succeeded  in  his  command  by 
Gontharis,  who  retook  Carthage,  where  he  maintained  him- 
self for  some  time.  The  Romans,  at  length,  succeeded  in 
putting  him  and  the  rest  of  the  Vandals  to  the  sword  at  a 
great  banquet,  when  they  were  helpless  from  intoxication. 

LXXXV.  The  Ostrogothic  War—Vitigis 

THE  downfall  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Ostrogoths  in  Italy 
was  partly  occasioned  by  similar  causes.  The  death  of  Theo- 
dorich  the  Great,  the  signal  for  disunion  between  the  Goths 
and  Romans,  was  quickly  turned  to  advantage  by  Justinian 
on  one  side,  and  by  the  Franks  on  the  other.  Amalaswin- 
tha,  the  learned  daughter  of  Theodorich,  and  the  widow  of 
Eutharis  the  Goth,  took  possession  of  the  kingdom  in  the 
name  of  her  youthful  son,  Athalarich.  Amalaswintha  had 
been  educated  at  Rome,  and  was  consequently  anxious  to 
place  her  son  beneath  similar  tutelage.  A  violent  opposition 
was  raised  to  her  schemes  by  a  party  in  the  kingdom,  which, 
under  pretext  of  rescuing  the  young  prince  from  the  de- 
grading effects  of  Roman  effeminacy,  encouraged  him  in 
the  grossest  vice,  and  the  queen,  finding  her  life  no  longer 
secure,  had  already  entreated  the  emperor  Justinian  for  a 
place  of  refuge,  when  her  son  fell  a  victim  to  excess,  and 
her  opponents  raised  Theodatus,  the  son  of  Amalfrida,  to 


208  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

the  throne,  who  caused  her  to  be  suffocated  in  a  bath.  The 
Romans,  oppressed  by  the  tyranny  of  the  barbarous  Gothic 
party,  now  recalled  with  regret  the  comparatively  mild  gov- 
ernment of  Theodorich,  once  deemed  by  them  so  intolerable, 
and  anxiously  sought  assistance  from  the  Greek  emperor, 
who,  elated  by  his  recent  victory  over  the  Vandals,  acceded 
to  their  petition,  and,  under  pretext  of  avenging  the  murder 
of  Amalaswintha,  turned  his  arms  against  the  Goths,  who 
were  doubly  obnoxious,  on  account  of  their  profession  of 
Arianism,  to  the  Catholic  Romans,  by  whom  he  was  zeal- 
ously aided,  while  the  Franks,  from  political  motives,  offered 
no  opposition  to  his  project.  Theodatus,  panic-struck  at  the 
arrival  of  Belisarius  in  southern  Italy,  offered  to  exchange 
his  crown  for  a  pension  from  the  emperor ;  a  proposal  ren- 
dered null  by  his  subjects,  who,  despising  him  for  his  cow- 
ardice, convoked  a  general  state  assembly  at  Regeta,  near 
Rome,  which  deposed  him  and  placed  Vitigis  on  the  throne, 
by  whose  orders  he  was  put  to  death.  Vitigis,  in  the  hope 
of  securing  himself  on  the  throne  by  an  alliance  with  the  last 
of  the  Amali,  A.D.  536,  forced  Malasuntha,  the  daughter  of 
Amalaswintha,  to  become  his  wife,  and  sent  embassadors 
into  Asia  with  the  intention  of  persuading  the  Persians  to 
attack  the  eastern  frontier  of  Greece.  He  also  entered  into 
alliance  with  the  Alpine  Alemanni  and  Burgundians,  who  to 
the  number  of  150,000,  almost  all  mailed  cavalry,  advanced 
into  northern  Italy,  where,  instead  of  aiding  him,  they  plun- 
dered and  laid  waste  the  country.  Belisarius,  meanwhile, 
approached,  the  Romans  swelling  his  ranks  as  he  advanced 
upon  Rome,  whose  gates  were  flung  open  by  the  inhabitants 
to  welcome  his  arrival,  and  to  receive  a  Roman  garrison. 
Vitigis  instantly  besieged  the  faithless  city,  at  the  head  of 
the  whole  of  his  army.  "Wooden  scaling  towers,  drawn  by 
oxen,  were  placed  close  to  the  walls,  which  the  Goths  furi- 
ously attacked,  but  were  repulsed  with  great  loss  by  Beli- 
sarius, who,  when  all  the  common  stones  were  exhausted, 
flung  several  thousands  of  the  marble  statues,  which  at  that 
time  adorned  the  city,  upon  the  heads  of  the  besiegers,  who 


CONTESTS   BETWEEN   GOTHS   AND   FRANKS         209 

fought  with  such  extraordinary  fury  that  30,000  of  them  are 
said,  on  one  occasion,  to  have  fallen  in  a  skirmish  that  took 
place  beneath  the  walls. 

Johannes,  Belisarius'  lieutenant,  meanwhile,  carried  on 
the  war  to  the  rear  of  the  Goths,  and  being  invited  by  the 
injured  Malasuntha  to  Ravenna,  the  Gothic  capital,  took 
Ariminum,  and  garrisoned  Milan,  whose  gates  opened  to 
receive  him  on  his  passage  to  that  city.  News  of  these  dis- 
asters quickly  reached  the  Gothic  king,  who,  setting  fire  to 
his  camp,  raised  the  siege  of  Rome,  and  marched  in  pursuit 
of  Johannes ;  but,  being  unable  to  draw  him  out  of  the  for- 
tified walls  of  Ariminum,  he  suddenly  attacked  Milan,  with 
the  intention  of  revenging  himself  upon  the  inhabitants,  and 
of  attracting  the  procrastinating  Burgundians  and  Alemanni 
beneath  his  standard,  by  the  hope  of  plunder.  The  city  was 
soon  taken  by  stratagem ;  and  Vitigis,  allowing  the  garrison 
to  march  out  unharmed,  put  300,000  of  the  inhabitants  to 
the  sword,  and  yielded  the  city  a  prey  to  his  Burgundian 
auxiliaries,  who  slew  indiscriminately  both  Goths  and  Ro- 
mans. Their  king,  Theodobert  of  Austrasia,  who  had  been 
simultaneously  applied  to  for  assistance  by  the  Greeks  and 
the  Goths,  now  invaded  Italy  with  the  intention  of  taking 
possession  of  it  for  himself.  Although  for  some  time  profess- 
ing Christianity,  he  afforded  another  striking  proof  of  the 
ferocity  of  the  times,  by  offering,  according  to  pagan  cus- 
tom, a  sacrifice  of  young  children  (those  of  the  Goths)  to  the 
river-god,  and  casting  their  bodies  into  the  Po.  The  Franks, 
armed  with  battle-axes,  fell  indifferently  upon  the  Romans 
and  the  Goths,  both  of  whom  had  implored  their  protection. 
Johannes  was  defeated,  but  a  pestilence,  breaking  out  among 
them,  so  greatly  reduced  their  number,  that  a  retreat  became 
inevitable,  and  they  quitted  Italy  at  a  moment  when  Vitigis 
was  closely  besieged  by  Belisarius  in  Ravenna,  where  he 
bravely  defended  himself,  until  at  length,  worn  out  by  the 
perseverance  of  the  enemy  and  hopeless  of  success,  the  Goths 
voluntarily  offered  to  place  the  Greek  general  on  the  throne 
of  Italy.  The  offer  was  accepted,  and  Vitigis  was  betrayed 


210  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

into  the  hands  of  Belisarius,  who  entered  Ravenna,  but,  true 
to  his  allegiance,  refused  to  be  proclaimed  king.  The  Gothic 
women,  indignant  at  the  treachery  and  folly  of  the  men, 
contemptuously  spat  in  their  faces.  Vitigis  and  several  other 
prisoners  of  distinction  were  taken  to  Constantinople,  where 
the  emperor,  struck  with  admiration  by  their  bravery,  treated 
them  with  great  honor.  The  extreme  beauty  of  the  Gothic 
women  is  highly  extolled  by  a  Greek  writer  of  that  age, 
A.D.  539. 

LXXXVI.    Totilas—Tejas—Fall  of  the  Kingdom  of 
the  Ostrogoths 

BELISARIUS  was,  at  this  conjuncture,  recalled  from  Italy, 
fortunately  for  the  rest  of  the  Goths,  who,  placing  Ildebald 
on  the  throne,  took  the  field  against  the  Heruli  and  Rugii, 
their  hereditary  foes,  immense  robber  hordes  of  whom  had 
joined  the  Romans.  Ildebald  defeated  their  two  chiefs,  Vi- 
talus  the  Roman,  and  Wisand  the  Herule,  but  was  shortly 
afterward  killed,  at  a  banquet,  by  a  Goth,  whose  jealousy 
he  had  excited.  His  head  was  cut  off  at  one  stroke  and 
rolled  upon  the  table.  Eurarich,  one  of  the  Rugii,  succeeded 
him  on  the  Gothic  throne  and  was  also  murdered.  The 
Goths  then  elected  Totilas,  A.D.  541,  Ildebald's  cousin,  who 
again  attempted  to  drive  the  Greeks  out  of  Italy.  On  his 
march  southward  he  is  said  to  have  encountered  St.  Benedict 
on  the  Casino  Mountains,  who  foretold  to  him  the  approach- 
ing downfall  of  his  kingdom.  Undeterred  by  this  prophecy, 
he  attacked  and  took  Naples,  and  captured  the  great  Gre- 
cian fleet  which  had  been  sent  to  the  assistance  of  the  city, 
and  which  lay  at  anchor  in  the  bay.  His  treatment  of  the 
famished  Neapolitans  was  remarkable  for  a  humanity  rare 
at  that  period,  and  he  superintended  in  person  the  distribu- 
tion of  small  quantities  of  food  to  each  person,  in  order  to 
guard  against  the  fatal  consequences  of  eating  too  freely 
when  in  a  state  of  starvation.  A  Goth  who  had  abused  a 
Roman  maiden  was,  by  his  orders,  put  to  death,  and  he 


CONTESTS   BETWEEN   GOTHS   AND   FRANKS         211 

strove,  by  the  practice  of  strict  justice  and  of  humanity,  to 
conciliate  the  people.  But  this  wise  policy  was  adopted  when 
too  late  for  success.  Belisarius  again  arrived  from  Greece  at 
the  head  of  a  powerful  army;  and  Totilas,  who,  meanwhile, 
had  taken  Rome  by  surprise,  retreated  northward,  after  de- 
molishing the  walls,  which  were  rebuilt  by  Belisarius,  who 
placed  the  city  in  so  complete  a  state  of  defense  as  to  enable 
it  to  withstand  a  three  days'  storming  by  the  Goths,  who,  in 
the  course  of  the  protracted  siege,  attacked  and  defeated  the 
army  of  Johannes  and  murdered  all  the  inhabitants  of  Tiber 
(Tivoli),  in  the  vicinity  of  Rome,  in  revenge  for  their  having 
supplied  Belisarius  with  information  of  their  movements. 

Belisarius,  again  recalled  by  the  emperor,  quitted  Italy 
for  the  last  time,  and  Totilas  once  more  took  possession  of 
Rome.  After  defeating  the  allied  army  of  the  Greeks  and 
Romans  under  Verus,  not  far  from  Ravenna,  he  returned 
southward,  made  himself  master  of  the  whole  country,  built 
a  fleet,  conquered  Sardinia  and  Corsica,  and  plundered  the 
Grecian  coasts.  Ancona  alone  remained  in  the  hands  of  the 
Greeks.  Emboldened  by  success,  he  demanded  the  daugh- 
ter of  Theodobert  in  marriage,  but  met  with  a  refusal,  and 
the  Franks  again  attempted  to  gain  possession  of  Upper  Italy. 
At  the  same  time,  the  eunuch  Narses,  who  had  succeeded 
Belisarius  in  the  command  of  the  imperial  troops,  of  which 
he  had  been  deprived  by  the  cabals  of  the  jealous  courtiers, 
entered  Italy  from  the  north,  and,  re-enforcing  his  army 
with  the  Heruli  and  Gepidse  under  Philemuth,  and  with 
6,000  of  the  Longobardi,  who  for  the  first  time  entered  Italy, 
attacked  the  diminished  forces  of  the  Goths  at  Taginas,  near 
Ariminum.  The  battle  raged  for  two  days,  when  Totilas, 
mortally  wounded  by  the  arrow  of  a  GepidaB,  fled  from  the 
field,  followed  by  the  remnant  of  his  army,  and,  after  riding 
84  stadia,  fell  dead  from  his  horse,  A.D.  552.  His  blood- 
stained robe  was  presented,  as  a  trophy,  to  Justinian.  The 
Goths  now  chose  Tejas  for  their  leader,  who,  resolving  not 
to  fall  unavenged,  marched,  sword  in  hand,  through  Italy, 
murdering  every  Roman  that  crossed  his  path;  Narses, 


THE   HISTORY  OF  GERMANY 

meanwhile,  pursuing  a  similar  plan  toward  the  Goths, 
whom  he  hoped  to  exterminate.  The  Goths,  in  revenge 
for  the  surrender  of  Rome  to  the  Greeks,  murdered  500 
children  belonging  to  the  first  Roman  families,  whom  they 
had  taken  as  hostages.  At  length,  closely  pursued  by  Nar- 
ses,  Tejas  fled  for  safety  to  the  beautiful  valley  that  extends 
from  Salerno  to  the  sea,  where,  strongly  posted  on  the  Monte 
di  Latte,  he  for  some  time  kept  the  enemy  at  bay.  Barri- 
cading the  entrance  to  the  intrenchments  with  his  body,  the 
brave  Goth  defended  himself  with  one  hand  while  guarding 
himself  with  a  long  shield  with  the  other,  and,  after  a  val- 
iant defense,  was  killed  when  in  the  act  of  changing  his 
shield,  bristled  with  arrows  and  lances,  for  the  third  time. 
The  Romans,  struck  with  the  bravery  of  their  foe,  granted 
free  egress  to  the  thousand  Goths  that  alone  survived  the 
fight.  The  death  of  Theodobert  took  place  about  this  period,, 
and  his  son,  Theodobald,  remaining  inactive,  the  Alemanni, 
who  dwelt  in  the  mountains,  deemed  the  occasion  favorable, 
on  the  dispersion  of  the  Goths,  for  an  invasion  of  Italy,  and 
attempted  to  carry  into  execution  the  project  that  was  shortly 
afterward  undertaken  with  such  signal  success  by  the  Longo- 
bardi  under  more  experienced  leaders.  They  divided  into 
two  enormous  hordes,  commanded  by  Leutharis  and  Butili- 
nus,  the  former  of  which  coasted  the  Mediterranean,  the  lat- 
ter the  Adriatic.  These  hordes  were  composed  of  foot-sol- 
diers, armed  with  shields  and  swords,  and  merely  clothed 
with  long  trousers,  the  upper  part  of  the  body  being  naked, 
from  an  idea  that  by  that  means  they  should  suffer  less  from 
the  heat  of  the  climate.  The  army  under  Leutharis  was 
destroyed  by  pestilence,  and  that  under  Butilinus  was  sur- 
rounded and  cut  to  pieces  by  Narses,  five  men  alone  escap- 
ing the  fate  of  their  comrades,  A.D.  554.  In  the  following 
year,  Ragnaris,  a  Hun,  headed  7,000  Goths  against  Narses, 
whom  he  treacherously  killed  during  a  conference,  a  fate 
which  not  long  afterward  awaited  him  at  Conza.  The  tyran- 
nical conduct  of  the  Romans  toward  their  former  masters, 
the  German  land-owners,  now  scattered  throughout  the 


CONTESTS   BETWEEN   GOTHS   AND   FRANKS         213 

country,  and  the  insolence  of  the  German  mercenaries,  suf- 
ficiently account  for  the  futile  revolts  of  the  Goths  under 
Widinus  and  Amingus  in  Verona,  A.D.  563,  and  of  the 
Heruli  under  Sinduval,  a  man  whose  bravery  had  chiefly 
contributed  to  the  victories  gained  by  Narses,  under  whom 
he  had  served,  and  who  ended  his  life  on  the  gallows,  A.D. 
566.  According  to  the  chronicle  of  Franke,  some  of  the 
fugitive  Goths  crossed  Mount  St.  Gothard,  and  settled  in  a 
wilderness  on  the  spot  where  Uri  now  stands. 

LXXXVII.    Origin  of  the  Longobardi — Fate  of  the 
Heruli  and  Gepidce 

THE  legendary  account  of  the  Longobardi  or  Langobardi 
is  as  follows : — A  famine  having  been  caused  in  Denmark  by 
a  great  flood,  the  people  assembled  in  order  to  deliberate  on 
the  best  means  of  alleviating  the  general  distress,  and  had 
already  come  to  the  resolution  of  putting  all  the  old  men  and 
women  to  death  for  the  sake  of  sparing  the  food  for  the 
young  and  able,  when  a  wise  woman,  named  Gambara,  pro- 
posed that  lots  should  be  cast  for  the  migration  of  a  third  of 
the  population.  Her  advice  was  followed,  and  the  chosen 
number  of  Danes,  then  known  as  Vinili,  afterward  as  Longo- 
bardi, on  account  of  the  prodigious  length  of  their  beards, 
departed,  under  the  command  of  Gambara's  two  sons,  Ibor 
and  Ajo.  Upon  the  Vandals  refusing  them  permission  to 
settle  in  their  neighborhood,  war  was  declared.  On  the  eve 
of  battle,  Gambara  besought  the  aid  of  Freya,  while  the 
Vandals  invoked  Wodan,  who  promised  to  grant  the  victory 
to  whomever  he  first  beheld  at  sunrise.  At  the  appointed 
hour,  the  Danish  women,  with  their  long  hair  hanging  over 
their  faces,  stationed  themselves  along  the  front  of  the  army, 
drawn  up  in  battle  array.  The  sun  rose,  and  Wodan  asked, 
"Who  are  these  with  long  beards?"  Thus  Wodan  gave 
them  a  new  name,  as  well  as  victory.  Their  name  has  also 
been  derived  from  the  word  Hellebard,  a  halbert.  They  are 
supposed  to  have  formerly  settled  on  the  extensive  corn-lands 


THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

now  surrounding  Magdeburg.  Although  conscious  of  their 
common  origin,  they  kept  apart  from  the  Suevian  confeder- 
acy, and  notwithstanding  their  numerical  inferiority,  main- 
tained their  independence  among  the  Saxons  (some  of  whom 
migrated  with  them  to  Italy)  by  means  of  their  extraordi- 
nary bravery,  which  is  justly  praised  by  Tacitus.  Their 
other  legends  are  totally  devoid  of  interest.  Agelmund,  one 
of  their  kings,  chanced  to  be  riding  along  the  banks  of  a 
stream,  into  which  seven  boys,  born  at  one  birth,  had  been 
cast.  He  stopped,  and  plunging  his  lance  into  the  water, 
drew  out  one  who  had  grasped  it.  This  boy  became  his  suc- 
cessor, and  founded  a  royal  dynasty.  The  family  of  the 
"Welfs  claims  a  similar  origin.  After  the  cessation  of  the  mi- 
grations, the  Longobardi  are  first  mentioned  as  a  powerful 
nation  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Rugii,  Scirri,  and  G-epidse, 
and  of  the  Slavian  Bulgarians  and  Avari,  in  the  mountains 
of  Austria.  The  Rugii  and  Scirri,  after  their  subjection  by 
the  Ostrogoths,  are  no  longer  met  with  in  history,  although 
there  is  great  probability  that  the  Bavarians  descended  from 
both  these  nations,  and  that  the  word  Scirri  may  be  traced 
in  the  name  of  Scheyer.  Jornandes,  the  Gothic  historian, 
mentions  Edico  and  Wulfo,  as  princes  of  the  Scirri  during 
the  fifth  century,  and  the  same  names,  Ethico  and  Welf, 
recur,  at  a  later  period,  in  the  celebrated  family  of  the  Welfs. 
The  Heruli  were  remarkable  for  their  obstinate  adherence  to 
paganism,  and  for  their  extreme  ferocity.  As  late  as  the 
commencement  of  the  sixth  century,  they  put  all  their  old 
men  to  death,  and  the  widows  voluntarily  burned  them- 
selves alive.  Rumentruda,  the  daughter  of  Tato,  king  of 
the  Longobardi,  fearing  the  revenge  of  the  crippled  brother 
of  Rudolf,  king  of  the  Heruli,  whom  she  had  mocked,  caused 
him  to  be  murdered.  Rudolf,  burning  for  vengeance,  at- 
tacked the  Longobardi,  at  the  head  of  the  Heruli,  who,  like 
genuine  Berserkers,  fought  perfectly  naked,  and  on  being 
defeated  were  seized  with  such  madness,  that,  coming  in 
their  flight  to  a  field  of  flax  in  full  bloom,  they  imagined  it 
to  be  a  lake  and  attempted  to  swim  through.  They  after- 


CONTESTS   BETWEEN   GOTHS   AND    FRANKS         215 

ward  entered  into  alliance  with  Constantinople,  A.D.  500, 
where  their  king,  Graitis,  received  baptism,  and  was  conse- 
quently murdered  on  his  return  by  his  pagan  subjects,  who, 
in  order  to  strengthen  their  party,  sent  to  Thule,  Scandina- 
via, their  ancient  birthplace,  A.D.  528  (which,  according  to 
an  obscure  tradition,  was  at  that  period  inhabited  by  pirates, 
also  Heruli,  who  devastated  the  coasts  of  France  and  Spain), 
for  a  king  of  the  ancient  mythical  race,  whose  arrival  being 
delayed,  the  Christian  party,  aided  by  the  emperor  Justinian, 
gained  the  upper  hand  and  raised  Swarta  to  the  throne.  At 
length  Todat  arrived  from  Thule  at  the  head  of  500  young 
men,  and  Swarta  was  deposed;  but  the  pagan  part  of  the  na- 
tion were  unable  to  maintain  their  independence  unassisted 
and  alone,  and  finally  became  incorporated  with  their  allies 
the  Gepidse.  The  Christian  Heruli  long  served  with  distinc- 
tion under  the  Greek  emperors,  as  mercenaries  against  the 
Persians,  Vandals,  and  Goths. 

The  Gepidse  boast  of  having  been  the  first  nation  (under 
Ardarich,  whose  gold  coins  are  mentioned  in  the  Burgundian 
code)  that  threw  off  the  yoke  of  the  Hun,  and  what  little  has 
been  recorded  concerning  them  hi  history  speaks  greatly  to 
their  praise.  Although  continually  at  feud  with  the  Ostro- 
goths, they  maintained  their  independence;  and  when  Ilde- 
chis,  the  son  of  Tatus,  king  of  the  Longobardi — who  had 
been  murdered  by  his  nephew,  "Wacho — fled  for  protection  to 
their  king  Turisend,  who  put  it  to  the  vote  \n  the  national 
assembly  whether  they  ought  not  to  avoid  a  contest  with 
their  powerful  opponent  and  comply  with  his  demand  for 
the  delivery  of  their  guest,  the  people  unanimously  replied, 
"that  annihilation  was  preferable  to  the  violation  of  the  laws 
of  hospitality."  This  magnanimous  resolution  was,  notwith- 
standing, powerless  to  save  the  life  of  the  unfortunate  Ilde- 
chis,  who  was  murdered  by  his  enemies.  Wacho  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Audoin,  whose  son,  Alboin,  killed  Thurismund, 
the  son  of  Turisend,  in  battle,  but,  forgetting  to  carry  away 
his  arms  and  returning  home  without  a  trophy,  was  deprived 
of  his  seat,  as  one  unworthy  of  the  honor,  at  his  father's 


216  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

table.  In  order  to  repair  his  negligence,  he  went  openly  to 
Turisend  and  demanded  the  arms  of  his  son.  The  aged 
king  entertained  him  with  the  greatest  hospitality,  and  even 
protected  him  from  the  anger  of  his  subjects,  whom  he  had 
treated  with  the  utmost  insolence.  Turisend  died,  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  son,  Kunimund,  who  was  killed  in  battle 
by  Alboin  (against  whom  he  was  seeking  to  revenge  the  se- 
duction of  his  daughter,  Rosamunda),  and  the  whole  nation 
of  the  Gepidse  was  incorporated  with  that  of  the  Longobardi, 
A.D.  566. 

LXXXVIII.    Alboin  in  Italy 

IN  552,  a  number  of  the  Longobardi  accompanied  Narses 
into  Italy  during  his  expedition '  against  the  Ostrogoths. 
Some  time  after  this,  the  services  of  Narses,  like  those  of 
the  unfortunate  Belisarius  (who  is  said  to  have  wandered 
over  the  scenes  of  his  former  exploits,  blind  and  starving), 
were  rewarded  with  ingratitude.  Being  tauntingly  advised 
by  the  Greek  empress  to  carry  a  spindle  instead  of  a  sword, 
he  replied  "that  he  would  shortly  spin  her  a  thread,  the  end 
of  which  she  would  not  easily  find,"  and  invited  the  Longo- 
bardi into  Italy,  that  land  ever  coveted  by  the  German, 
which  was  probably  doubly  attractive  to  Alboin,  owing  to 
the  security  afforded  by  the  Alps  against  the  increasing  and 
encroaching  Slavonian  hordes.  Their  ranks  swelled  by  20,000 
of  their  ancient  allies,  the  Saxons,  the  Longobardi  descended 
the  lofty  Alps,  A.D.  568,  and  for  the  first  time  beheld  the  im- 
mense plain,  to  which  they  were  destined  to  give  the  name 
of  Lombardy,  or  the  land  of  the  Longobardi.  Four  years 
were  spent  in  warfare  with  the  Romans,  who  defended  them- 
selves within  their  fortified  towns,  which,  at  first,  offered  an 
insurmountable  difficulty  to  these  wild  warriors,  unacquainted 
with  the  mode  of  conducting  a  siege ;  while  the  Burgundians 
and  their  duke  Mummulus,  who  beheld  with  apprehension 
the  arrival  of  a  numerous  and  warlike  nation  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  western  Alps,  continually  harassed,  and  probably 
might  eventually  have  succeeded  in  subduing  them,  had 


217 

they  been  assisted  by  the  Franks,  who,  fortunately  for  the 
Longobardi,  were  at  that  time  too  busily  engaged  in  civil 
broils  to  be  able  to  turn  their  attention  to  the  affairs  of  their 
neighbors.  The  whole  country  of  the  Po  and  the  fortified 
city  of  Pavia  at  length  fell  into  the  hands  of  Alboin,  A.D. 
572,  who,  warned  by  the  fate  of  the  Ostrogoths,  occasioned 
by  the  dispersion  of  their  forces  in  central  and  southern 
Italy,  took  up  a  strong  position  on  the  Po,  and  made  Pavia 
his  capital,  whence  he  could  watch  the  movements  of  the 
Burgundians,  the  Alemanni,  and  the  Franks,  while  he  kept 
the  Bulgarians  and  the  Avari  in  check  by  the  erection  of 
strong  fortifications  in  the  Frioul.  Instead  of  treating  the 
conquered  Romans  with  the  generosity  they  had  met  with  at 
the  hands  of  the  Ostrogoths,  he  deprived  them  of  the  whole 
of  the  land,  and  reduced  them  to  a  state  of  servitude,  to 
which  they  submitted  without  a  struggle,  although  they  had 
formerly  disdained  the  equality  offered  them  by  their  Gothic 
conquerors. 

Shortly  after  these  events  Alboin  fell  a  victim  to  his  own 
brutality.  During  a  festival  held  at  Pavia,  when  flushed 
with  success  and  wine,  he  forced  Rosamunda,  the  daughter 
of  Kunimund,  to  drink  from  a  cup  formed  from  the  scull  of 
her  father.  In  order  to  revenge  this  insult  and  to  gratify 
her  hatred  against  her  father's  murderer,  Rosamunda,  with- 
out hesitation,  sacrificed  her  honor  for  the  attainment  of  her 
purpose.  One  of  her  attendants  had  a  lover,  named  Peredeo, 
a  strong  and  active  man,  whom  she  unwittingly  ensnared, 
and  then  threatened  to  denounce  to  the  king,  unless  he  con- 
sented to  deprive  him  of  life.  Peredeo,  worked  upon  by  the 
wily  queen,  was  conducted  by  her  into  the  royal  chamber, 
where  Alboin,  unable  to  snatch  his  sword  from  the  wall,  to 
which  it  had  been  artfully  fastened  by  the  queen,  defended 
himself  for  some  time  with  a  footstool  against  the  attack  of 
his  murderer.  He  was  no  sooner  dead,  than  Helmichis, 
Rosamunda' s  confidant,  married  her,  in  the  hope  of  gaining 
the  crown;  but  the  Longobardi,  enraged  at  the  murder  of 
their  king,  attempting  to  seize  their  persons,  they  fled  for 
GERMANY.  VOL.  I. — 10 


218  THE    HISTORY   OF    GERMANY 

safety  to  Longinus,  the  Greek  governor  of  Ravenna,  who, 
struck  by  the  great  beauty  of  the  queen,  offered  her  his 
hand.  Rosamunda,  habituated  to  crime  and  detesting  the 
tool  of  her  revenge  equally  with  its  object,  now  administered 
poison  to  Helmichis,  who  no  sooner  tasted  the  cup,  than,  dis- 
covering her  treachery,  he  forced  her  to  drain  it  to  the  dregs, 
and  to  share  his  fate,  A.D.  573. 

The  Saxons,  dissatisfied  with  the  treatment  they  received 
from  the  Longobardi,  quitted  Italy,  and  being  defeated  dur- 
ing their  passage  across  the  Alps  by  the  Burgundians  under 
Mummulus,  were  constrained  to  purchase  freedom  with  the 
sacrifice  of  their  whole  booty.  A  worse  fate  awaited  them 
on  their  arrival  in  their  native  country  on  the  Bode  (now 
Swabia),  which  they  found  occupied  by  the  Alemanni,  who 
had  been  invited  thither  by  the  Franks,  and  whose  peaceful 
offers  being  scornfully  rejected,  a  war  ensued,  in  which  the 
Saxons  were  completely  worsted,  and  30,000  of  them  slain. 

LXXXIX.   Theodolinda 

AFTER  the  death  of  Alboin,  the  Longobardi  raised  Kleph 
to  the  throne,  who  fell,  in  575,  by  the  hand  of  one  of  his 
subjects,  and  an  interregnum  of  ten  years  ensued,  during 
which  the  thirty-six  Gauen  were  governed  by  an  equal  num- 
ber of  independent  dukes,  who  invaded  France,  in  576,  and 
were  defeated  in  the  mountains  by  Mummulus.  In  the  en- 
suing year,  three  of  these  dukes,  Amon,  Zadan,  and  Rodan, 
again  invaded  that  country,  but  were  defeated  and  obliged 
to  abandon  their  baggage  on  the  Alps.  They  afterward 
gained  a  victory  over  a  Roman  army  under  Baduarius, 
A..D.  577.  The  dukes,  apprehending  a  double  invasion  on 
the  part  of  France  and  Greece,  A.D.  584,  now  elected  an- 
other king,  Autharis,  the  son  of  Kleph,  who  restored  peace 
to  the  kingdom  and  made  a  treaty  with  Smaragdus,  the 
exarch  of  Ravenna.  In  order  to  strengthen  himself  against 
France  by  an  alliance  with  Bavaria  he  demanded  Theodo- 
linda, the  beautiful  and  pious  daughter  of  Garibald,  in  mar- 


219 

riage,  and  accompanying  the  embassy  in  disguise,  succeeded 
in  gaining  her  affections.  On  quitting  her  father's  court,  he 
discovered  his  rank  to  her,  by  saying,  as  he  struck  his  bat- 
tle-ax into  a  tree,  "Thus  strikes  the  king  of  the  Longobardi!" 
Garibald,  secretly  influenced  by  the  Franks,  withdrew  his 
consent  to  the  marriage,  upon  which  Theodolinda  fled  across 
the  Alps  to  her  royal  lover,  and  the  wedding  was  celebrated 
at  Verona.  The  Franks,  enraged  at  the  failure  of  their 
scheme,  accused  Garibald  of  having  connived  at  the  flight 
of  his  daughter,  and  a  war  ensued,  in  which  Autharis,  pro- 
tected by  his  fortresses,  was  victorious.  The  Franks,  har- 
assed by  internal  dissensions,  deferred  their  revenge,  and 
Autharis,  turning  his  arms  against  the  Romans,  overran 
Italy  and  raised  a  monument  at  Reggio.  He  died  early, 
A.D.  591,  and  the  Longobardi,  wrought  upon  by  the  beauty 
and  address  of  Theodolinda,  intrusted  her  with  the  choice 
of  a  successor  to  her  bed  and  to  the  throne.  A  handsome 
Thuringian  named  Agilulf,  whose  political  principles  coin- 
cided with  her  own,  became  the  object  of  her  choice,  and 
on  his  bending  to  kiss  her  hand  one  day  as  she  sat  at  table, 
she  said  with  a  blush,  "You  have  a  right  to  kiss  my  cheek, 
for  you  are  my  king!"  The  influence  obtained  by  this  queen 
over  the  minds  of  the  people  was  so  unlimited  that  the  same 
nation  which,  in  579,  had  murdered  four  hundred  Romans 
for  refusing  to  sacrifice  to  their  gods,  embraced  Christianity 
at  her  request.  She  was  on  friendly  terms  with  the  pope, 
Gregory  the  Great,  and  not  only  concluded  peace  with  the 
Franks,  but  strengthened  the  alliance  by  promoting  mar- 
riages between  the  two  nations.  Under  her  peaceful  reign, 
the  constitution  of  Lombardy  was  finally  arranged.  The 
warlike  form  of  government,  consisting  of  dukes  and  their 
subordinate  chiefs  or  decani,  who  exercised  the  judiciary 
power  in  time  of  peace,  was  at  first  retained.  The  Romans, 
deprived  of  their  freedom,  managed  the  estates  of  their  lords, 
and  held  a  particular  office  as  Gastalden  (Gast,  guest;  aid, 
alt,  old  '),  dependent,  like  that  of  the  decani,  on  the  dukes. 
1  See  Chapter  IV.  The  word  AldL 


220  THE  HISTORY   OF   GERMAN? 

The  new  kingdom  extended  from  Savoy  to  the  Friou],  and 
from  the  Southern  Tyrol  to  Benevento.  A  part  of  Upper 
Italy,  the  cities  of  Ravenna,  Rome,  and  Naples,  with  Cala- 
bria and  Sicily,  alone  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Greeks, 
and  formed  an  exarchate,  of  which  Ravenna  was  the  capi- 
tal. The  church,  meanwhile,  supported  by  Theodolinda, 
increased  in  power,  the  pope  exercising  almost  uncontrolled 
authority  at  Rome.  Frioul  and  Benevento,  on  the  eastern 
and  southern  frontiers,  were  governed  by  powerful  and  al- 
most independent  dukes.  The  republic  of  Venice,  then  in 
its  infancy,  already  emulated  Greece  in  the  knowledge  and 
practice  of  navigation,  a  science  unknown  to  the  Longo- 
bardi,  whose  invasion  of  the  country  had  driven  fresh  fugi- 
tives to  the  little  islands  in  the  Lagune,  first  peopled  by 
refugees  in  the  time  of  Attila. 

Agilulf  died,  and  Adelwald,  his  youthful  son  and  suc- 
cessor, rendering  himself  obnoxious,  was  murdered  by  his 
subjects,  A.D.  615,  who,  in  gratitude  for  the  benefits  con- 
ferred on  them  by  Theodolinda,  elected  Ariowald,  the  hus- 
band of  her  daughter,  Gerberga,  as  her  successor  on  the 
throne,  A.D.  625. 

XC.  The  Crimes  of  the  Merovingian* 

THE  success  of  the  Frankish  kings  of  the  race  of  Mero- 
wig,  who  by  violence  and  fraud  had  risen  from  obscurity, 
and  had  become  the  most  powerful  monarchs  in  Europe,  led 
to  the  indulgence  of  the  deepest  moral  depravity.  Their 
policy,  widely  differing  from  that  of  the  enlightened  and 
generous-minded  Dietrich  of  Bern,  was  solely  based  on  op- 
pression and  murder,  and  the  bloody  feuds  between  the 
numerous  descendants  of  Chlodwig,  each  of  whom,  dissat- 
isfied with  his  portion,  grasped  at  the  whole  of  the  immense 
Inheritance,  equaled  in  treachery  and  cold-blooded  cruelty 
the  horrors  they  had  already  enacted  in  their  wars  with 
neighboring  nations.  Some  of  these  feuds  may  have  arisen 
from  an  idea  of  the  political  unity  of  the  nation  being  nee- 


CONTESTS    BETWEEN   GOTHS    AND    FRANKS         221 

essary  for  its  protection  against  foreign  aggression,  while 
others  may  have  been  caused  by  a  desire  of  gaining  sole 
possession  of  the  enormous  treasure,  composed  of  the  booty 
taken  from  many  nations,  preserved  at  Paris,  which  is 
beautifully  and  truly  designated  in  the  Nibelungenlied  as 
the  source  of  all  their  corruption.  On  recurring  to  those 
olden  times,  when  the  Frank,  poor,  ignorant,  and  barbar- 
ous, suddenly  came  into  possession  of  enormous  wealth  and 
power,  the  scenes  of  horror  that  ensued,  one  brother  turning 
his  hand  against  another,  lest  he  should  first  fall  a  victim 
to  treachery,  may  almost  be  anticipated.  The  tragedy  was 
commenced  after  the  deaths  of  Theodorich  and  Chlodomir, 
two  of  the  four  sons  of  Chlodwig,  by  their  brethren,  Childe- 
bert  and  Chlotar,  who  seized  the  inheritance  of  the  sons  of 
Chlodomir,  whose  mother,  Chrodogilda,  being  offered  the 
alternative  of  their  death  or  of  their  seclusion,  with  shorn 
heads,  in  a  monastery,  proudly  replied,  "Rather  let  them 
die  than  be  deprived  of  their  royal  right!"  upon  which  they 
were  instantly  stabbed  by  Chlotar;  Childebert,  moved  to 
pity,  when  too  late,  vainly  attempting  to  rescue  them  from 
his  murderous  grasp.  On  the  death  of  Childebert,  the  whole 
authority  was  vested  in  Chlotar,  the  close  of  whose  reign  is 
marked  by  an  incident  which  proves  that  a  nation  cannot  be 
rendered  entirely  and  blindly  subservient  to  the  ambition  of 
its  rulers.  During  the  invasion  of  Saxony,  the  Franks  sud- 
denly protested  against  the  injustice  of  the  war,  and  threat- 
ened to  put  their  king  to  death  unless  he  desisted  from  it; 
but  it  was  not  until  his  tent  had  been  destroyed  by  the  en- 
raged multitude  that  Chlotar  yielded  and  terminated  the 
campaign. 

Chlotar  was  succeeded  by  his  four  sons,  A.D.  561,  who 
divided  the  kingdom ;  Charibert  reigning  at  Paris,  Guntram 
at  Orleans,  Sigebert  at  Metz,  and  Chilperich  at  Soissons. 
The  horrors  committed  by  these  four  brethren  cast  the  de- 
pravity of  the  four  sons  of  Chlodwig  into  the  shade.  Never 
has  one  family  amassed  such  a  heritage  of  crime!  The  na- 
tion, influenced  by  the  changes  consequent  on  the  introduc- 


222  THE    HISTORY   OF    GERMANY 

tion  of  the  feudal  system,  either  beheld  with  indifference  or 
favored  the  dissensions  between  their  rulers,  of  which  they 
took  advantage  in  order  to  obtain  concessions  and  additional 
privileges  in  return  for  their  assistance  (the  majority  of  the 
people  having  been  deprived  of  their  Allods,  and  the  tenure 
of  the  fiefs  depending  on  the  will  of  the  sovereign,  and  being 
alienable  on  the  demise  of  the  feoffee),  although  hi  general 
they  required  no  stronger  incentive  than  the  hope  of  booty ; 
while  the  clergy,  ever  on  the  watch  for  an  opportunit}7  of 
increasing  the  power  of  the  church  at  the  expense  of  that 
of  the  temporal  sovereigns,  participated  in  the  guilt  of  this 
royal  house  by  promoting  disunion  between  its  various 
branches. 

XCI.    Fredegunda 

THE  disorders  in  the  family  of  Chlotar  were  commenced 
by  Charibert,  king  of  Paris,  who,  in  defiance  of  the  interdict 
pronounced  against  him  by  Bishop  Germanus,  took  unto 
himself  four  wives,  a  crime  to  which,  in  the  superstition  of 
the  times,  his  early  death  was  attributed.  Guntram,  king 
of  Orleans,  followed  his  example  and  took  three  wives.  This 
base  polygamy  was  turned  to  advantage  by  Sigebert,  king 
of  Metz,  who,  after  gaining  a  victory  over  the  Avari  in  the 
east,  raised  himself  above  his  brothers  by  an  alliance  with 
the  princess  Brunehilda,  the  daughter  of  Athanagild,  king 
of  the  Visigoths,  whose  youthful  charms  and  immense  dowry 
rilled  all  France  with  her  fame,  and  the  heart  of  Chilperich, 
king  of  Soissons,  with  envy.  This  wretch  had  already  sac- 
rificed his  wife  Audodeva  and  her  two  children  to  his  mis- 
tress, Fredegunda,  a  woman  celebrated  for  her  beauty  and 
ferocity.  Solely  influenced  by  jealousy  and  avarice,  he  now 
demanded  the  hand  of  Galaswintha,  Brunehilda's  sister, 
whom,  at  the  instigation  of  Fredegunda,  he  caused  to  be 
murdered  in  her  bed,  soon  after  her  arrival  hi  Soissons  and 
the  reception  of  her  rich  dower,  and  a  few  days  after  the 
commission  of  this  crime  proclaimed  his  artful  mistress 
queen.  He  then  suddenly  entered  the  territory  of  Sigebert, 


CONTESTS   BETWEEN   GOTHS   AND   FRANKS         223 

in  the  hope  of  gaining  possession  of  it  by  surprise,  but  met 
with  a  sturdy  opposition  from  the  Austrasians,  Sigebert's 
true-born  German  subjects.  During  this  contest,  letters  were 
addressed  by  St.  Radegunda  from  her  convent  to  both  the 
brothers,  adjuring  them  to  peace,  and  reminding  them  of 
the  evils  that  had  befallen  her  family,  the  bitter  conse- 
quences of  disunion ;  but  her  voice  was  unheard.  The  war 
proved  disastrous  to  Chilperich,  whose  son,  Theodebert,  was 
killed  in  battle,  and  Sigebert  had  scarcely  been  seated  by  the 
Neustrians  on  the  throne  of  Paris  than  he  was  slain  by  as- 
sassins in  the  pay  of  his  treacherous  brother,  A.D.  576,  who, 
taking  advantage  of  the  consternation  caused  by  this  event, 
re-entered  the  city,  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the  Neu- 
strians,  drove  out  the  now  chiefless  Austrasians,  took  the 
unfortunate  Brunehilda  prisoner,  and  almost  succeeded  in 
gaining  possession  of  her  son,  Childebert,  a  child  of  three 
years  of  age,  whose  life  was  saved  by  a  trusty  servant, 
named  Gundobald,  who  frustrated  the  search  of  the  mur- 
derers by  secreting  him  in  a  game-bag,  by  which  means  he 
contrived  to  escape  with  him  to  Austrasia,  where  he  was 
proclaimed  king.  Brunehilda,  now  a  prisoner  and  in  the 
power  of  Fredegunda,  the  murderess  of  her  sister  and  hus- 
band, had  already  prepared  for  death,  when  a  deliverer  ap- 
peared in  the  person  of  Merowich,  the  son  of  Chilperich, 
who*  happening  to  see  the  beautiful  prisoner  at  Rouen,  be- 
came deeply  enamored  of  her  and  drew  her  from  her  prison. 
Influenced  by  gratitude  for  this  proof  of  devotion,  the  queen 
bestowed  her  hand  upon  him,  and,  aided  by  the  faithful 
bishop  of  Prsetextatus,  who  pronounced  the  nuptial  benedic- 
tion, the  lovers  escaped  to  Austrasia,  where  the  great  vas- 
sals of  the  crown,  unwilling  to  place  their  youthful  sovereign 
under  the  guardianship  of  a  step-father,  and  unmoved  by 
the  tears  and  entreaties  of  Brunehilda,  refused  to  receive 
her  husband,  who  was,  consequently,  compelled  to  return  to 
Neustria,  where,  fearing  his  father's  vengeance,  he  raised 
an  army,  and  being  defeated  by  a  ruse  de  guerre,  preferred 
receiving  death  from  his  companions  in  arms  to  the  fate 


224  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

that  awaited  him,  as  a  prisoner,  at  the  hands  of  the  hateful 
Fredegunda. 

This  queen,  whose  propensities  were  as  licentious  as  they 
were  bloody,  had,  in  the  meantime,  carried  on  a  criminal 
intercourse  with  Landerich,  her  husband's  major-domus, 
which  was  by  chance  discovered  by  Chilperich,  who,  one 
day  entering  her  room  eof  tly  when  she  was  dressing,  heard 
her  utter  the  name  of  Landerich,  for  whom  she  had  mis- 
taken him,  but  not  daring  to  put  her  to  death,  was  himself 
shortly  afterward  deprived  of  life  by  her  adherents,  when 
following  the  chase,  A.D.  584.  Chlotar  the  Second,  the  only 
son  of  Fredegunda,  who  governed  in  his  name,  succeeded  to 
the  throne.  The  peace-loving  Guntram  of  Orleans,  struck 
with  horror  at  the  bloody  deeds  of  this  Megsera,  sent  embas- 
sadors  to  Childebert  of  Australia,  and  an  interview  took 
place  between  them  on  a  bridge,  when  the  childless  old  man, 
tenderly  embracing  his  nephew,  declared  him  his  heir,  hop- 
ing, by  this  means,  to  save  his  kingdom  from  the  bloody 
grasp  of  Fredegunda.  The  dotage  of  the  aged  king  was, 
meanwhile,  turned  to  advantage  by  the  great  vassals  and  the 
bishops  of  Neustria  and  Austrasia,  who,  during  the  minority 
of  Childebert,  frequently  made  the  old  man  the  umpire  of 
their  feuds,  and  found  means  to  gain  many  great  privileges. 
The  brave  Mummulus,  the  most  powerful  of  the  Burgundian 
chiefs,  was,  by  the  intrigues  of  his  enemies,  sentenced  to 
death  by  his  ungrateful  master,  and  the  whole  nation  be- 
came gradually  infected  with  the  egotism  and  cruelty  char- 
acteristic of  the  race  of  Merowig. 

The  increasing  power  of  the  great  vassals  for  some  time 
kept  the  authority  of  Fredegunda  and  of  Brunehilda  in  check, 
but  the  latter  at  length  succeeded  in  forming  a  party  in  Aus- 
trasia, by  which  she  was  placed  at  the  head  of  affairs.  The 
success  attending  her  first  enterprise,  undertaken  against  the 
Longobardi,  at  once  gained  the  confidence  of  her  warlike 
subjects  and  confirmed  her  newly  acquired  power.  With  a 
heart  hardened  by  former  adversity,  she  bloodily  revenged 
herself  upon  the  nobles,  the  authors  of  her  cruel  fate,  who, 


CONTESTS    BETWEEN   GOTHS    AND    FRANKS         225 

after  depriving  her  of  her  husband,  Merowich,  had  compelled 
her  to  part  with  Lupus,  her  only  faithful  adherent.  These 
occurrences  are  mentioned  in  the  song  of  the  Nibelungen  as 
the  revenge  of  Chriemhilda.  Fredegunda,  enraged  at  her 
success,  attempted  to  assassinate  her,  but  was  frustrated  in 
her  scheme,  and  her  emissaries  were  put  to  death.  She  then, 
in  the  hope  of  gaining  the  chief  power  in  Neustria,  secretly 
caused  the  nobles  to  be  murdered  one  by  one,  but,  neverthe- 
less, only  reached  her  aim  on  the  death  of  Guntram,  A.D. 
595,  when  she  and  her  paramour,  Landerich,  set  up  a  claim 
to  the  throne  of  Burgundy,  in  opposition  to  that  of  Brune- 
hilda  and  her  son,  Childebert,  who,  after  his  first  campaign 
against  the  Longobardi,  had  subdued  the  petty  nation  of  the 
Varini  and  incorporated  it  with  that  of  Thuringia.1  This 
youthful  monarch,  basely  deserted  by  the  Burgundian  no- 
bles, whom  Landerich  had  bribed  by  lavishing  upon  them 
the  accumulated  treasure  of  the  Merovingian  kings,  died 
shortly  after  his  defeat  at  Soissons,  not  without  suspicion  of 
having  been  poisoned  by  Brunehilda,  who  coveted  the  pos- 
session of  the  sole  authority,  in  order  to  reign  undisturbed 
with  her  paramours.  Childebert  left  two  sons,  Theudebert, 
who  inherited  Austrasia,  and  its  capital,  Metz ;  and  Theude- 
rich,  who  claimed  Burgundy,  and  its  capital,  Orleans;  the 
possession  of  which  was  again  disputed  by  Fredegunda.  A 
second  battle  took  place  on  the  Seine,  in  which  Brunehilda 
was  victorious,  whereupon  Fredegunda,  stimulated  by  re- 
venge, stirred  up  the  Avari  and  the  Saxons,  who  invaded 
Thuringia,  A.D.  596,  but,  before  the  contest  was  decided, 
her  criminal  existence  reached  its  close. 


1  Radigis,  king  of  the  Varini,  had  deserted  his  Anglo-Saxon  bride  for  a 
Prankish  princess.  The  Anglo-Saxon,  in  revenge  for  this  insult,  landed  on 
the  coast  of  Germany,  and,  after  a  long  search,  succeeded  in  taking  her  faith- 
less bridegroom  prisoner  in  a  wood,  when  she  compelled  him  to  repudiate  the 
Frank  and  to  marry  her.  This  little  incident  was  the  cause  of  the  ruin  of  th« 
whole  nation,  which  was  subdued  by  the  avenging  Franks. 


226  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 


XCII.    Brunehilda 

THEUDEBERT,  after  repulsing  the  Avari  and  the  Saxons, 
turned  his  arms  against  Chlotar,  whom  he  defeated,  after  a 
desperate  engagement,  in  which  30,000  Franks  fell.  Brune- 
hilda, deprived  of  one  object  of  her  hatred  by  the  death  of 
her  old  enemy,  Fredegunda,  now  sought  to  revenge  herself 
upon  the  Australian  nobles  by  whom  her  influence  had 
formerly  been  impaired,  and  after  causing  -<Egila,  the  major- 
domus,  to  be  murdered,  bestowed  that  office  upon  Protadius, 
the  paramour  of  her  old  age,  whom  she  raised  to  the  highest 
dignities  of  state.  Enraged  at  the  disapprobation  of  her  ty- 
rannical and  licentious  inclinations  manifested  by  her  grand- 
son Theudebert,  she  remorselessly  flung  the  brand  of  discord 
into  her  own  family,  by  persuading  Theuderich  that  his 
brother,  instead  of  being  the  son  of  Chlotar,  owed  his  exist- 
ence to  a  miller,  and  a  quarrel  had  already  broken  out  be- 
tween them,  when  Uncelin,  duke  of  Alemannia,  raising  a 
sedition  among  the  Germans,  slew  the  Roman  Protadius  in 
his  camp,  and  brought  about  a  reconciliation.  Brunehilda, 
furious  at  the  restraint  imposed  upon  her  by  Theuderich, 
caused  the  bishop  Desiderius,  who  had  ventured  to  preach 
repentance  to  her,  to  be  stoned  to  death,  and  revenged  the 
reprobation  with  which  the  Irish  saint,  Columban,  had  de- 
nounced her  crimes,  by  driving  him  out  of  the  country.  This 
artful  wretch  at  length  succeeded  in  setting  her  grandsons 
completely  at  variance,  by  persuading  the  credulous  Theu- 
derich to  deprive  his  brother,  on  the  plea  of  his  illegitimacy, 
of  the  beautiful  province  of  Alsace.  Two  dreadful  conflicts 
took  place  at  Toul  and  Zulpich,  the  latter  of  which  proved 
fatal  to  Theudebert,  who  fell  into  the  hands  of  his  unnatural 
grandmother  and  was  confined  in  a  monastery,  where  he  was 
shortly  afterward  murdered  by  her  order,  and  the  brains  of 
his  little  son,  Merowich,  were  dashed  out  against  a  rock,  A.D. 
612.  Theuderich,  inspirited  by  this  success,  now  invaded 
Neustria,  and  Brunehilda  was  gloating  on  the  prospect  of 


CONTESTS   BETWEEN   GOTHS   AND    FRANKS         225 

speedily  sating  her  revenge  on  Chlotar  the  Second,  whose 
mother  death  had  placed  beyond  her  reach,  when  the  retri- 
bution so  long  delayed  at  length  burst  upon  her  head.  Theu- 
derich,  struck  by  the  beauty  of  Theutelana,  the  daughter 
of  Theudebert,  was  on  the  eve  of  marrying  her,  when  his 
grandmother,  who  dreaded  the  consequences  of  this  alliance, 
contradicted  her  former  assertion  of  Theudebert's  illegiti- 
macy, in  order  to  prove  that  the  marriage  was  forbidden 
by  the  church.  The  fratricide,  filled  with  remorse  at  this 
avowal,  drew  his  sword  and  threatened  the  life  of  his  hate- 
ful grandmother,  who  soon  after  revenged  herself  by  ad- 
ministering poison  to  him. 

Theuderich  left  four  sons,  still  in  their  infancy.  Sige- 
bert,  the  eldest,  was  placed  by  Brunehilda,  who  intended  to 
govern  in  his  name,  on  the  throne  of  Austrasia,  but  her  ex- 
pectations were  frustrated  by  Pipin  von  Landen,  who,  at  the 
head  of  a  numerous  party  of  discontented  nobles,  went  over 
to  Chlotar  the  Second,  who  prudently  convoked  a  general 
assembly  of  the  Frankish  nobility,  to  which  he  submitted  his 
cause,  and  the  means  of  putting  an  end  to  the  feuds  which 
for  so  long  a  period  had  desolated  his  family.  Brunehilda, 
meanwhile,  alarmed  by  this  general  desertion,  fled  from  Metz 
into  the  interior  of  Germany,  whence  she  attempted  to  rouse 
the  jealousy  of  the  Australians  against  the  Neustrians.  The 
fidelity  of  Warnachar,  her  major-domus,  appearing  to  waver, 
she  conspired  against  his  life,  but  discovering  her  intention 
he  counterplotted  with  Chlotar,  and  when  she  recrossed  the 
Rhine  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  army,  and  entered  the  broad 
champaign  around  Chalons  on  the  Marne  (famous  for  the 
meeting  of  conflicting  nations  in  the  time  of  Attila),  where 
she  encountered  Chlotar,  her  followers  deserted  her  to  a 
man,  and  she  was  delivered  up  to  her  adversary,  who,  after 
causing  her  to  undergo  the  most  excruciating  torture  for 
three  days,  had  her  placed  on  a  camel's  back  and  paraded 
through  the  camp ;  the  punishment  being  terminated  by  her 
being  tied  by  the  hair  of  her  head,  by  one  arm  and  one  foot, 
to  the  tail  of  a  wild  horse.  Thus  miserably  ended  the  life  of 


THE  HISTORY    OF   GERMANY 

the  Visigothic  princess,  A.D.  613,  whose  arrival  in  France 
was  attended  with  such  splendor,  and  hailed  with  such  uni- 
versal delight.  Her  crimes  were  visited  upon  her  descend- 
ants. Sigebert  and  his  second  brother,  Corvus,  were  mur- 
dered by  order  of  Chlotar;  Merowich,  the  third,  being  his 
godson,  was  spared;  and  the  fourth,  Childebert,  fled  the 
country  and  was  never  heard  of  more.  Frideburga,  a  noble 
maiden,  daughter  of  Gunzo,  duke  of  Alemannia,  lost  her 
senses  on  hearing  of  the  death  of  Sigebert,  to  whom  she  was 
betrothed,  and  being  restored  to  reason  by  St.  Galus,  the 
disciple  of  St.  Columban,  he  was,  in  reward,  permitted  to 
found  the  monastery  of  St.  Gall  in  the  country  of  the  pagan 
Alemanni,  by  whom  St.  Columban  had  a  short  time  previ- 
ously been  driven  away  for  having  ventured  to  throw  three 
of  their  deities  (probably  Wodan,  Thor,  and  Frigga,  who 
gave  name  to  the  Bodensee,  the  Thurgau,  and  the  Frick- 
thal),  whose  images  stood  on  the  banks  of  the  Bodensee, 
into  the  lake. 

The  use  of  carriages  was  introduced  into  France  by 
Brunehilda,  during  whose  reign  the  roads  were  made,  long 
known  as  the  chaussees1  de  Brunehault,  the  only  benefit  she 
ever  conferred  on  her  subjects.  With  her  the  legitimate  line 
of  the  Merovingians  ceased,  and  the  bastard  brood  of  Frede- 
gunda,  Merovingians  only  in  name,  mounted  the  throne  in 
the  person  of  Chlotar  the  Second,  whose  slothful  effeminacy, 
bigotry,  and  sensuality,  were  unredeemed  by  the  energy 
which  so  eminently  characterized  the  lineal  descendants  of 
Merowig.  The  great  vassals  of  the  crown  and  the  bishops, 
anxious  to  obtain  a  confirmation  of  the  privileges  they  had 
gained  during  these  disturbances,  now  sought  to  establish 
peace  throughout  the  kingdom,  reunited  beneath  the  scepter 
of  Chlotar  the  Second,  and  convoking  a  general  state  assem- 
bly at  Paris,  A.D.  625,  compelled  him  to  render  the  feofs 
hereditary  and  to  grant  fresh  privileges  to  the  clergy,  who 

1  On  the  Feldberg,  the  highest  summit  of  the  Taunus,  a  large  mass  of  stones, 
called  Brimehilda's  bed,  is  still  to  be  seen,  whence  this  queen  is  said  to  have 
often  gazed  on  the  delicious  prospect. 


CONTESTS    BETWEEN   GOTHS    AND    FRANKS         229 

henceforward  shared  with  the  people  the  right  of  electing 
the  bishops,  whose  office  was  merely  confirmed  by  the  king. 
The  power  of  the  Hausmaier,  or  mayor  of  the  palace,  a 
post  of  great  importance  whenever  the  scepter  was  in  the 
hands  of  women  and  children,  had  also  risen  during  these 
long  disturbances,  and  had  become,  as  will  hereafter  be  seen, 
the  object  to  which  the  nobility  most  ambitiously  aspired. 

XCIII.    Grimoald 

THE  Avari,  a  wild  and  savage  race  that  had  settled  in 
Hungary,  advanced  under  the  command  of  their  prince, 
Cacan,  through  the  mountains  of  Illyria  and  Lombardy, 
A.D.  611,  and  after  slaying  Gisulph,  the  grandduke,  and  all 
his  adherents  in  battle,  laid  siege  to  the  city  of  Frioul,  where 
Romilda,  the  widow  of  Gisulph,  had  taken  refuge.  One  day 
when  gazing  from  the  battlements,  the  duchess  beheld  the 
young  khan,  and  becoming  enamored  of  his  beauty,  offered, 
regardless  alike  of  honor  and  duty,  to  betray  the  city  into 
his  hands  on  condition  of  being  made  his  wife.  The  com- 
pact was  made  and  fulfilled.  The  city  was  delivered  up, 
and  Cacan  took  Romilda  with  her  four  sons  and  four  daugh- 
ters into  Hungary,  where  the  marriage  was  celebrated;  but 
on  the  following  morning,  with  a  perfidy  worthy  of  the  hus- 
band of  such  a  woman,  he  caused  her  to  be  impaled  alive. 
Her  daughters,  Appa,  who  subsequently  married  a  duke  of 
Alemannia,  and  Gaila,  who  wedded  a  duke  of  Bavaria,  pre- 
served their  honor  by  the  singular  precaution  of  polluting 
their  persons  with  the  putrid  flesh  of  a  fowl.  The  four  sons 
found  means  to  escape.  Grimoald,  the  youngest,  who  was 
mounted  behind  his  eldest  brother  Tafo,  was  thrown  to  the 
ground  during  the  flight,  and  Tafo,  fearing  lest  he  might  be 
taken  alive  by  their  pursuers,  was  in  the  act  of  transfixing 
him  with  his  lance,  when,  moved  by  the  entreaties  of  the 
boy,  he  changed  his  resolution,  and  replacing  him  on  his 
horse,  continued  his  flight.  Grimoald  again  fell  and  was 
seized  by  an  Avar,  who  mounted  him  on  his  horse  with  the 


230  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

intention  of  carrying  him  off,  when  the  brave  child,  drawing 
a  dagger  from  the  man's  belt,  suddenly  stabbed  him  to  the 
heart,  tossed  him  from  the  saddle,  and  galloped  after  his 
brethren,  whom  he  speedily  rejoined.  Tafo  was  hospitably 
received  by  Ariowald,  king  of  Lombardy,  and  succeeded  his 
father  in  the  dukedom  of  Frioul.  A  certain  Adalulf,  whose 
criminal  advances  had  been  scornfully  rejected  by  Queen 
Gundeberga,  revenged  himself  by  rousing  the  suspicion  of 
the  king  against  Tafo,  whom  he  falsely  accused  of  carrying 
on  an  illicit  intercourse  with  the  queen.  Tafo  was  put  to 
death.  The  innocence  of  the  queen  was  afterward  fully 
proved,  and,  on  the  death  of  Ariowald,  she  was  treated  by 
the  Lombards  with  the  same  respect  that  had  formerly  been 
shown  to  her  mother,  Theodolinda,  her  second  husband  be- 
ing left  to  her  choice,  which  fell  upon  Rotharis,  a  man  dis- 
tinguished for  prudence.  He  bestowed  an  admirable  code 
of  laws  upon  Lombardy.  On  his  death,  A.D.  643,  the  Lom- 
bards, wishful  to  show  their  devotion  to  the  memory  of  their 
beloved  queen,  Theodolinda,  and  of  her  virtuous  race,  raised 
her  brother,  the  Bavarian  Aribert,  to  the  throne,  A.D.  654. 
His  sons,  Bertarit  and  Godebert,  disputed  the  succession, 
661,  and  a  struggle  ensued  between  the  rival  parties,  which 
terminated  at  Benevento  in  favor  of  the  Lombards. 

The  brave  little  Grimoald  was  adopted  by  Duke  Arigil  of 
Benevento,  and  became  a  famous  warrior.  He  greatly  dis- 
tinguished himself,  under  the  command  of  his  patron,  against 
the  Greeks  in  Lower  Italy,  and,  on  succeeding  to  the  throne 
of  Benevento,  declared  in  favor  of  King  Godebert.  A  man 
who  was  secretly  in  the  pay  of  King  Bertarit  succeeded, 
however,  in  persuading  the  two  friends  that  each  was  plot- 
ting the  other's  destruction,  alleging,  in  support  of  his  asser- 
tion, that  each  wore  armor  beneath  his  dress,  through  fear 
of  the  other.  The  fear  of  assassination  now  induced  them 
in  reality  to  take  this  precaution,  which  Grimoald  no  sooner 
perceived  than,  confirmed  in  his  suspicions,  he  slew  his  sup- 
posed enemy,  thinking  to  save  his  own  life.  Bertarit  still 
maintained  his  right,  but  the  Lombards,  persuaded  of  Gri- 


CONTESTS   BETWEEN   GOTHS   AND   FRANKS         231 

moald's  innocence,  placed  him  on  the  throne.  Constans,  the 
Greek  emperor,  taking  advantage  of  the  discord  that  pre- 
vailed in  Lombardy,  marched  thither  in  person  from  Naples 
and  laid  siege  to  Benevento,  which  was,  at  that  time,  de- 
fended by  Romuald,  whose  father,  Grimoald,  was  engaged 
in  the  north,  but  who  dispatched  Sesuald,  his  trusty  adher- 
ent, at  the  head  of  some  troops,  to  his  assistance.  Sesuald 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  emperor,  who  promised  to  load  him 
with  honor  and  wealth,  on  condition  of  his  giving  Romuald 
a  false  account  of  the  death  of  Grimoald,  and  of  persuading 
him  to  capitulate;  but  the  faithful  man,  when  led  to  the 
walls  for  that  purpose,  cried  out,  "  Be  firm  1  Grimoald  ap- 
proaches!" His  head  was  instantly  severed  from  his  body 
and  cast  into  the  city.  It  fell  at  the  feet  of  Romuald,  who 
pressed  it  to  his  lips  and  deeply  deplored  his  death.  Instead 
of  awaiting  the  arrival  of  Grimoald,  the  emperor  retreated 
upon  Naples.  He  was  pursued,  and  a  battle  was  on  the 
point  of  commencing,  when  Amalong,  a  gigantic  Lombard, 
lifting  a  Greek  from  his  saddle  with  his  lance,  held  him 
poised  in  the  air,  and  the  rest  of  his  countrymen,  terror- 
stricken  at  sight  of  this  feat,  fled  to  Sicily.  Bertarit  at 
length,  finding  resistance  futile,  submitted  to  Grimoald, 
who,  either  mistrusting  him  or  being  again  misled,  laid  a 
plan  for  murdering  him  in  his  bed,  which  was  discovered  by 
one  of  Bertarit's  servants,  who  aided  his  master  to  escape 
and  placed  himself  in  his  bed.  Grimoald,  struck  by  this 
proof  of  fidelity,  attempted  to  attach  him  to  his  own  person, 
but,  finding  his  endeavors  unsuccessful,  yielded  to  his  en- 
treaties, and  restored  him  to  his  master,  who  had  taken 
refuge  in  France.  His  cause  was  embraced  by  Chlotar  the 
Second,  who  took  up  arms  against  the  Lombards,  and  was 
defeated  at  Asti  by  Grimoald,  who,  feigning  to  desert  his 
camp,  which  he  left  well  stored  with  provisions,  suddenly 
returned  and  put  his  feasting  opponents  to  the  sword,  A.D. 
665.  In  the  following  year,  he  defeated  the  Avari,  who  also 
invaded  Lombardy,  by  marching  and  countermarching  his 
little  army,  each  time  dressed  in  different  colors,  within  sight 


THE    HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

of  the  enemy,  so  as  to  give  them  a  false  impression  of  his 
numbers.  Grimoald  gave  many  new  laws  to  his  country. 
In  his  old  age  he  was  remarkable  for  his  bald  head  and 
long  white  beard. 

After  his  death,  A.D.  671,  the  Lombards  recalled  the  ex- 
iled Bertarit,  and  Romuald  contented  himself  with  the  pos- 
session of  Benevento.  Cunibert,  the  son  of  Bertarit,  was 
greatly  disquieted  by  the  rebellious  dukes,  and  his  son,  Liut- 
prand,  was  set  aside  by  Reginhart,  a  descendant  of  Gode- 
bert.  Aribert  the  Second,  his  son  and  successor,  in  order  to 
revenge  himself  upon  Ansbrand,  the  guardian  of  Liutprand, 
who  had  taken  refuge  in  Bavaria,  deprived  his  son  of  his  eye- 
sight, and  mutilated  his  mother  and  daughter.  Ansbrand 
being  assisted  by  the  Bavarians  and  joined  by  the  Lombards, 
by  whom  Aribert  was  universally  detested,  in  the  first  en- 
counter the  latter  fled  from  his  camp,  but,  unwilling  to  part 
from  his  treasures,  loaded  himself  so  heavily  with  gold  that, 
when  crossing  the  river  Adige  on  horseback,  he  sank  beneath 
the  weight  and  was  drowned,  A.D.  711.  Ansbrand  mounted 
the  throne,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Liutprand,  who 
gave  laws  to  the  Lombards  favoring  the  emancipation  of  the 
slaves,  in  order  better  to  dispose  the  ancient  Roman  inhabi- 
tants toward  the  Lombard  rule.  He  also  projected  the  con- 
quest of  the  whole  of  Italy,  where  the  Romans  were  at- 
tempting to  make  their  exarchate  independent  of  the  Greek 
emperor;  but  an  insurmountable  obstacle  presented  itself  at 
Rome,  where  the  pope,  Gregory  the  Second,  who  disdained 
to  submit  to  a  king  of  Lombardy,  and  was  moreover  desirous 
of  dividing  Italy  into  petty  sovereignties,  in  order  to  increase 
his  own  independence,  was  powerfully  supported  by  the 
Franks,  who,  forgetful  of  the  generosity  of  Liutprand  in 
assisting  them  against  the  Moors,  compelled  him  to  restore 
Ravenna  to  the  pope.  Liutprand  died  in  744,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Rachis,  whose  brother,  Aistulf,  on  coming  to  the 
throne,  attempted  to  carry  out  the  plans  of  Liutprand,  and 
pressing  hard  upon  Rome,  was  attacked  and  defeated  by  the 
Franks. 


CONTESTS    BETWEEN    QOTHS    AND    FRANKS          233 


XCIV.   Fall  of  the  Suevian  and  Visigothic  Kingdom 

in  Spain 

AFTER  the  death  of  Theodorich  the  Great,  the  protector  of 
the  Visigoths,  Amalarich,  their  king,  attempted  to  cement 
the  friendship  of  the  Franks  by  an  alliance  with  Chlotilda, 
the  daughter  of  Chlodwig,  but  the  ancient  hatred  existing 
between  the  two  nations  was  too  deeply  rooted,  and  the 
haughty  princess,  ill-treated  by  her  husband,  sent  a  cloth 
stained  with  her  blood  as  a  token  to  her  brothers,  and  Childe- 
bert,  hastening  to  avenge  her  wrongs,  slew  Amalarich  near 
Narbonne,  A.D.  531.  The  Goths  elected  Theudis,  and  the 
Franks  were  waylaid  on  their  return  to  France,  and  defeated 
by  Theodisel,  his  general,  who  succeeded  him  on  the  throne, 
and  was  assassinated  in  consequence  of  his  licentious  habits. 
He  was  succeeded  by  JEgila,  who  was  deposed  by  Athana- 
gild,  the  father  of  the  celebrated  Brunehilda,  whose  succes- 
sors were  Liuba  and  Lowigild,  a  furious  tyrant,  against 
whom  the  Basques,  in  the  Pyrenees,  rebelled.  His  son,  Her- 
menegild,  married  Ingundis,  the  daughter  of  Brunehilda,  a 
pious,  gentle  princess,  and  zealous  Catholic.  Her  husband 
had  been  reared  in  the  same  faith  by  his  mother,  Theodosia, 
who  was  a  Greek  Catholic.  Goiswinda,  his  step-mother,  an 
equally  zealous  Arian,  enraged  at  the  obstinacy  with  which 
her  daughter-in-law  adhered  to  her  religious  tenets,  caused 
her  to  be  thrown  into  a  tun  full  of  water,  in  order  to  baptize 
her  according  to  the  form  of  her  church.  Hermenegild,  re- 
volted by  this  treatment  of  his  young  wife,  refused  to  em- 
brace Arianism,  and  rebelling  against  his  father,  joined  the 
ancient  Roman  Catholic  inhabitants  of  Spain,  the  Suevi  and 
the  Basques.  The  rebels  were  defeated;  Andeca,  king  of 
the  Suevi,  was  confined  in  a  monastery,  and  the  whole  na- 
tion reduced  to  submission.  Hermenegild  surrendered  him- 
self to  his  father,  who  condemned  and  put  him  to  death. 
The  Catholics  worshiped  him  as  a  saint.  Ingundis,  while 


THE    HISTORY    OF    GERMANY 

attempting  to  escape  by  sea  into  France,  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Greeks,  and  died  in  Africa,  A.D.  585. 

Fredegunda,  delighted  at  this  catastrophe,  and  hoping  to 
gain  the  Visigoths  over  to  her  party  in  opposition  to  that  of 
her  arch-enemy,  Brunehilda,  offered  her  daughter,  Rigundis, 
in  marriage  to  Reccared,  Hermenegild's  brother,  and  the 
richly-dowered  bride,  sadly  foreboding  that  the  evil  fate  of 
Ingundis  might  prove  her  own,  set  out  for  Spain,  but  before 
she  reached  the  Pyrenees,  was  despoiled  and  sent  back  by 
Guntram's  vassals;  an  insult  which  was  afterward  bloodily 
revenged  by  Lowigild.  Reccared,  who  succeeded  his  father, 
favored  the  Catholics,  and  foreseeing  that  the  Arian  Visi- 
goths must  finally  yield  to  their  antagonists  and  share  the 
miserable  fate  of  the  Ostrogoths,  made  a  public  confession 
of  the  Catholic  faith.  He  afterward  defeated  a  conspiracy 
formed  against  him  by  the  Arians,  A.D.  590,  headed  by  Goi- 
swinda  and  her  ally,  Guntram,  who  had  sent  a  Frankish 
army  under  Desiderius,  duke  of  Toulouse,  into  Spain,  and 
Goiswinda  killed  herself  in  despair.  Reccared  introduced 
several  new  regulations  into  the  government,  which,  by  low- 
ering the  pride  of  the  Gothic  nobility,  and  by  conferring 
great  privileges  upon  the  Romans,  essentially  contributed  to 
the  gradual  extinction  of  the  German  language  and  free 
constitution,  and  to  the  promotion  of  Italian  ascendency, 
which  was  materially  assisted  by  the  efforts  of  the  Catholic 
clergy,  whose  influence  had  greatly  increased  during  the 
long  interregnum  that  occurred  after  the  death  of  Alaric. 
The  subsequent  rapid  change  of  sovereigns  on  the  throne, 
and  the  schism  in  the  church,  had  also  added  to  the  impor- 
tance and  pretensions  of  the  bishops,  who  now  held  a  casting 
vote  in  the  diet  or  council,  which  promulgated  both  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  law,  and  formed  among  the  Visigoths  one  and 
the  same  assembly.  Reccared  died  in  601.  His  son,  Liuba, 
was  dethroned  by  Witherich,  who,  rendering  himself  obnox- 
ious by  his  tyranny,  was  assassinated  at  a  banquet.  In  this 
manner  sovereigns  rapidly  succeeded  each  other,  all  of  whom 
were  unable  to  transmit  the  throne  to  their  descendants 


CONTESTS   BETWEEN    GOTHS   AND   FRANKS         235 

without  a  violent  struggle,  were  murdered  by  their  rebel- 
lious subjects,  or  dethroned  by  a  successful  rival ;  the  eccle- 
siastical and  temporal  lords,  meanwhile,  taking  advantage 
of  the  confusion  that  prevailed  to  gain  a  firm  footing  in  the 
state.  The  Basques  were  in  almost  continual  revolt,  and 
the  country  lay  open  to  the  Franks,  who,  fortunately  for 
their  neighbors,  were  at  that  period  busily  engaged  in  their 
own  civil  dissensions.  The  most  distinguished  among  the 
Gothic  princes  of  that  time  were — Sigebert,  who  drove  the 
Greeks  from  their  last  strongholds  in  some  of  the  maritime 
towns,  and  who  died  in  620 ;  Chindasuinth,  who,  by  putting 
500  nobles  to  death,  annihilated  the  power  of  the  ancient 
aristocracy,  A.D.  652;  and  Reccesuinth,  who  chastised  the 
Basques,  and  restrained  the  hierarchical  power  by  reinstat- 
ing that  of  the,  dukes,  A.D.  672.  After  him,  Wamba  the 
"Wise  was  unanimously  chosen  king.  During  his  reign,  the 
Moors,  whom  he  successfully  repulsed,  first  landed  in  Spain. 
He  was  projecting  the  imposition  of  further  restrictions  on 
the  power  of  the  bishops,  when  he  fell  a  victim  to  their 
treachery.  A  great  rebellion  of  the  Romans,  under  Paulus 
the  Greek,  which  may  be  regarded  as  a  Roman  reaction 
against  the  declining  Gothic  empire,  had  been  happily 
quelled,  when  Erwig,  a  young  man  whom  he  had  loaded 
with  benefits,  administered  a  sleeping  draught  to  him,  and 
the  priests,  during  his  stupor,  deprived  him  of  his  long  hair 
(a  loss  which,  according  to  the  Gothic  custom,  rendered  him 
incapable  of  reigning),  and  consigned  him  to  the  cloister. 
On  regaining  his  senses,  fearing  lest  the  prosecution  of  his 
claim  might  occasion  a  civil  war,  he  had  the  rare  self-denial 
calmly  to  take  the  vow  which  separated  him  from  the  world. 
Erwig,  struck  with  remorse,  followed  his  example.  He  was 
succeeded  by  Egiza,  A.D.  687,  during  whose  reign  the  Moors 
again  invaded  the  coasts,  but  were  repulsed  by  the  brave 
duke,  Theodorich.  "Witiza,  the  son  of  Egiza,  succeeded  his 
father,  and  imposed  fresh  restrictions  upon  the  clergy,  A.D. 
698.  His  unbridled  licentiousness  rendering  him  obnoxious 
to  the  people,  an  insurrection  broke  out,  and  Roderick  was 


236  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

elected  in  his  stead,  against  whom  the  son  of  "Witiza  and 
Count  Julianus  conspired.1  Roderick  is  said  to  have  dis- 
honored the  daughter  of  Julianus,  who,  in  revenge,  invited 
the  Moors  over  from  Africa.  The  whole  of  the  north  of  that 
country  was,  at  that  period,  in  the  hands  of  those  zealous 
propagators  of  the  religion  of  Mahomet,  who  had  put  an  end 
to  the  Greek  dominion,  which  had  been  re-established  there 
by  Belisarius.  Taric,  the  Moorish  chief,  landed  with  a  great 
army  on  the  celebrated  rock  which  forms  the  most  southern 
point  of  Europe,  and  is  named  after  him  Gebel-al-Taric, 
Gibraltar.  Roderick  marched  against  him,  and  although  in 
the  commencement  of  the  battle  his  army  was  weakened  by 
the  desertion  of  Count  Julian,  who  went  over  to  Taric,  the 
engagement  lasted  eight  days,  from  the  19th  to  the  26th  of 
July,  A.D.  711.  It  took  place  near  Zeres  de  la  Frontera. 
The  victory  was  at  length  decided  on  the  eighth  day  in  favor 
of  the  Moors,  by  the  sudden  disappearance  of  Roderick, 
whose  horse  and  crown  were  found  on  the  bank  of  a  river. 
The  flower  of  the  Gothic  nation  strewed  the  field  of  battle. 
The  bodies  of  the  nobles  were  distinguished  by  the  golden 
rings  they  bore,  while  those  of  the  freemen  bore  silver  ones, 
and  those  of  the  bondmen  copper  ones.  At  Sidonia,  a  brave 
defense  was  made  by  Egiza ;  and,  in  Cordova,  four  hundred 
Goths  sustained  a  siege  of  three  months  in  a  church  with 
unexampled  bravery.  At  length  Toledo,  the  capital,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  invaders,  who  soon  became  masters 
of  the  whole  country.  The  numerous  Jewish  population, 
formerly  cruelly  oppressed  by  the  Christians,  now  revenged 
their  sufferings  by  acting  as  spies  and  auxiliaries  to  the 
enemy.  The  Goths,  persuaded  that  the  Moors,  solely  intent 
on  plunder,  would  shortly  evacuate  the  country  they  de- 


:  One  day  as  King  Roderick  was  beholding  the  sports  of  the  maids  of  honor 
from  a  balcony  of  his  palace,  Cava,  the  daughter  of  Count  Julian,  accidentally 
lost  her  footing  and  fell.  The  king,  struck  with  her  remarkable  beauty,  became 
passionately  enamored  of  her,  and,  being  unsuccessful  in  his  suit,  offered  her 
violence.  According  to  another  legend,  an  ancient  chest,  which  contained  the 
destruction  of  Spain,  was  opened  with  bold  curiosity  by  Roderick,  and  the  in- 
stant that  the  lid  flew  up,  the  enemy  entered  and  laid  the  country  waste. 


CONTESTS   BETWEEN   GOTHS   AND    FRANKS         237 

spoiled,  did  not  exert  their  utmost  energy  in  order  to  drive 
them  out,  and  were  only  convinced  of  their  fatal  error  when 
the  enemy  had  settled  in  the  land  and  opposition  was  un- 
availing. Fresh  armies  continually  crossed  the  Strait,  re- 
peopled  the  desolated  provinces,  built  new  cities,  and  plunged 
the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  into  slavery.  Among  others, 
thirty  thousand  Gothic  maidens  were  carried  away  from 
Spain,  as  a  present  to  the  caliph.  A  number  of  Gothic  war- 
riors took  refuge  in  the  mountains  of  Asturia  and  Gallicia, 
and  at  a  later  period  again  emerged  from  their  rocky 
fastnesses. 

XCV.    Mahomet  and  the  Arabians 

THE  Arabians,  a  people  distinguished  from  the  other  Asi- 
atic nations  by  superior  elevation  of  character  and  fervor  of 
imagination,  were  destined  to  play  a  part  in  Asia  and  Africa, 
after  the  fall  of  the  Roman  empire,  similar  to  that  enacted 
by  the  Germans  in  Europe.  Christianity,  although  spread 
at  an  early  period  over  Asia  Minor  and  Arabia,  became 
gradually  less  adapted  in  its  doctrines  and  form  of  worship 
to  the  peculiar  temperament  of  the  Eastern  nations.  The 
various  characters  impressed  upon  the  Western  and  Eastern 
churches  by  the  deeply-searching  intellect  of  the  meditative 
German,  and  by  the  subtle  sophistry  of  the  Greek  philoso- 
pher, were  lost  amid  the  burning  wastes  of  Asia.  The  Asi- 
atic, unacquainted  with  the  higher  intellectual  necessities  of 
the  European,  with  physical  powers  more  rapidly  and  fully 
developed  than  his  moral  faculties,  with  an  imagination 
warmer  than  the  feelings  of  his  heart,  ignorant  of  liberty, 
whether  in  polity,  religion,  or  science,  accustomed  to  cringe 
beneath  the  despot's  power,  shackled  in  his  religious  creed 
by  severe  laws,  which  governed  not  only  the  actions  but  the 
thoughts  of  his  every-day  life,  beheld  Christianity  in  a  very 
different  light  to  the  European.  Deprived  of  vitality,  its 
further  development  checked,  to  him  it  appeared  a  mere 
dead  letter,  a  stern  and  inflexible  law.  The  religion  of  love 


238  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

and  liberty  no  sooner  became  one  of  passive  obedience  and 
hard  necessity  than  it  lost  its  dominion  over  the  minds  of 
the  people,  and  its  influence  on  government,  society,  man- 
ners, and  daily  life. 

Christianity  was  first  imbued  with  an  Asiatic  character 
by  the  Arabians,  the  most  imaginative  of  the  Eastern  na- 
tions. Mahomet,  a  man  of  energetic  and  creative  intellect, 
who  represented  himself  as  the  messenger  and  prophet  of 
God,  founded  upon  it  a  new  doctrine,  Islamism,  or  Moham- 
medanism, adapted  to  the  temperament  of  his  countrymen, 
and  replaced  the  Bible  by  the  Koran,  which  commands  belief 
in  one  God,  recognizes  Moses,  Christ,  and  Mahomet,  as  his 
prophets,  announces  the  first  duty  of  the  true  believer  to  be 
the  promulgation  of  this  doctrine  by  fire  and  sword  over  the 
whole  world,  and  promises  voluptuous  joys  in  heaven  to  those 
who  fall  in  battle  against  unbelievers;  an  idea  probably 
drawn  from  the  Walhalla  of  the  North,  as  it  is  possible  that 
the  mythology  of  the  Goths  and  Vandals  may  not  have  been 
entirely  unknown  in  Arabia.  After  death,  the  Mahometan 
heroes,  attended  by  houris  (exactly  similar  to  the  Walkyren), 
caroused  in  eternal  delight ;  the  only  difference  between  the 
Arabian  paradise  and  that  of  the  North  being  the  absence  of 
warlike  sports,  the  heroes  being  merely  rewarded  with  sen- 
sual pleasures.  In  622  the  Mahometan  war  of  proselytism 
commenced.  The  accordance  of  Islamism  with  the  Asiatic 
character,  the  heroic  deeds  of  Mahomet,  the  valor  and  enthu- 
siasm of  his  followers,  and  the  promises  of  celestial  bliss,  all 
conduced  to  the  rapid  propagation  of  the  new  religion,  and 
involuntarily  biased  the  minds  of  their  opponents  in  its 
favor,  even  while  still  opposing  them  sword  in  hand.  Islam- 
ism, consequently,  speedily  predominated  throughout  Asia, 
but  was  met  by  another  spirit  more  powerful  than  its  own  in 
Europe,  against  which  it  vainly  battled.  Mahomet  subdued 
the  whole  of  Arabia,  and  became  the  caliph  of  the  faithful. 
His  successors  followed  in  his  steps,  and  after  conquering 
Persia,  Syria,  Palestine,  Egypt,  and  the  whole  northern 
coast  of  Africa,  shook  Constantinople,  Sicily,  and  Spain, 


CONTESTS   BETWEEN   GOTHS    AND    FRANKS         239 

everywhere  compelling  the  conquered  nations  to  embrace 
Islamism.  During  the  reign  of  the  great  caliph,  "Walid, 
Spain  was  conquered  by  Taric. 

The  foundation  of  a  new  and  gigantic  empire,  animated 
by  a  spirit  hitherto  unknown,  unlimited  in  its  aspirations, 
and  forcibly  attempting  to  domineer  the  world,  was  not  with- 
out its  influence  on  Germanized  and  Christianized  Europe. 
The  appearance  of  the  Moors  and  their  new  religion  inter- 
rupted the  civil  contests  of  the  Germans,  and  forced  them  to 
turn  their  attention  and  their  arms  to  the  South,  in  order 
to  defend  France  and  all  Christendom  from  the  destruction 
which  threatened  them  from  Spain.  The  long  contests  that 
ensued  steeled  the  heroism  of  the  Germans,  elevated  their 
minds,  contracted  by  the  petty  feuds  between  kings  and  vas- 
sals, and  fired  them  with  religious  enthusiasm ;  nor  did  the 
benefit  cease  with  the  danger;  the  sciences  introduced  by 
the  Moors,  more  especially  their  natural  philosophy,  mathe- 
matics, and  mechanics,  their  knowledge  and  active  pursuit 
of  commerce,  their  wealth,  refined  sense  of  the  enjoyments 
of  life,  and  their  fertile  and  vivid  imagination,  exercised  a 
powerful  influence  over  the  arts  and  social  existence  of  the 
Germans  during  several  succeeding  centuries.  Their  kings 
imitated  in  their  courts  the  pomp  and  splendor  of  the  cal- 
iphate, and  the  customs  of  chivalry  attained  to  a  high  degree 
of  refinement,  more  particularly  in  Spain,  where  every  action 
was  inspired  and  sanctified  by  religious  enthusiasm,  and 
where  the  Moors  emulated  the  Germans  in  the  practice  of 
every  knightly  virtue. 

XCVI.    The  Anglo-Saxons 

ABOUT  the  period  of  the  migration  of  the  Suevi  and  the 
Visigoths  to  Spain,  of  the  Franks  and  the  Burgundians  to 
Gaul,  of  the  Ostrogoths,  the  Heruli,  and,  later,  of  the  Longo- 
bardi,  to  Italy,  Britain  was  also  newly  peopled  by  Germans. 
The  Romans  had  been  obliged  to  quit  this  island,  never  en- 
tirely subdued  by  them,  in  order  to  defend  their  empire  from 


240  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

the  irruptions  of  the  barbarians,  and  the  ancient  inhabitants, 
the  Britons  in  the  south  and  the  Scots  in  the  north,  were  dis- 
puting its  possession,  when  Hengist  and  Horsa,  two  Saxon 
leaders,  landed  with  a  considerable  force  on  the  coast,  A.D. 
450,  in  search  of  a  settlement,  for  which  purpose  they  had 
quitted  their  country,  under  oath  never  to  return,  as  was 
customary  in  Germany,  whenever  the  population  became  too 
numerous  for  the  land.  Being  well  received  by  Vortigern, 
the  British  king,  they  entered  into  an  alliance  with  him 
against  his  enemies,  the  Scots,  whom  they  speedily  com- 
pelled to  retreat  to  their  mountains.  They  settled  in  the 
country,  and  Vortigern  contracted  a  marriage  with  Rowena, 
the  beautiful  daughter  of  Hengist.  Their  friendship,  how- 
ever, was  not  of  long  duration.  The  Saxons,  coveting  sole 
possession  of  the  land,  treacherously  murdered  the  Britons 
during  a  conference,  with  knives  concealed  for  that  purpose 
beneath  their  dresses.  Fresh  hordes  continually  arrived 
from  Saxony,  and  Hengist  became  king  of  Kent,  A.D.  455, 
the  first  Saxon  kingdom  founded  in  Britain,  where,  notwith- 
standing the  obstinate  opposition  of  the  Britons  and  Scots, 
seven  kingdoms  were  gradually  founded.  The  Saxons,  who 
were  accompanied  in  their  migrations  by  numbers  of  the 
Angli,  received  the  general  appellation  of  Anglo-Saxons, 
and  the  name  of  Britain  was  changed  to  that  of  Angelland 
or  England.  Some  of  the  Britons  took  shelter  in  the  moun- 
tains of  "Wales,  and  others,  escaping  to  the  coast  of  France, 
gave  name  to  Brittany.  The  Britons,  ennobled  by  misfort- 
une, gathered  strength  in  their  fall,  and  the  legends  and 
poetry  of  that  period  celebrate  their  heroic  deeds  and  wild 
chivalry,  more  particularly  those  of  King  Arthur  and  his 
knights.  An  incident,  unimportant  in  itself,  occasioned  the 
introduction  of  Christianity  into  England.  Two  young  Angli 
prisoners,  who  had  been  carried  to  Rome,  were  standing  for 
sale  in  the  market-place,  and  the  Romans,  attracted  by  their 
singular  beauty,  had  collected  around  them,  when  Gregory 
the  Great,  then  in  a  private  station,  chancing  to  pass,  also 
Stopped,  and  asked  to  what  nation  they  belonged,  and  on 


being  told  that  they  were  Angli,  said,  "They  are  not  Angli, 
but  Angeli,  and  we  must  endeavor  that  the  praises  of  God  be 
sung  in  their  country."  '  Shortly  after  this  incident,  he  was 
raised  to  the  papal  chair,  and  sent  a  number  of  missionaries 
to  England,  where  the  gospel  was  willingly  received;  and, 
as  conviction,  untainted  by  intrigue  or  violence,  had  alone 
induced  conversion,  the  Anglo-Saxons  became  in  conse- 
quence distinguished  by  their  zeal  and  enthusiasm  in  the 
cause  of  religion,  above  any  of  the  other  German  nations, 
and  the  most  celebrated  preachers  of  the  gospel  went  from 
England  to  Scandinavia,  Germany,  and  France.  The  seven 
kingdoms  retained  the  division  into  (Gauen)  districts,  the 
only  change  in  the  constitution  being  the  greater  power  as- 
signed to  the  king  and  his  adherents.  In  825,  Egbert,  king 
of  Kent,  united  these  seven  states  into  one  kingdom,  that  of 
England,  notwithstanding  which,  the  people  still  retained 
their  ancient  liberties,  the  inviolability  of  their  homes,  the 
right  of  electing  the  aldermen  (Alter  mann,  old  man),  their 
public  administration  of  justice,  and  their  Witenagemot,  or 
popular  assembly,  presided  over  by  the  king,  the  origin  of 
parliament;  principles  which  have  been  to  the  present  day 
preserved  in  the  British  constitution,  the  rock  on  which  the 
strength  and  glory  of  England  rest,  while  the  internal  and 
external  decay  of  the  power  of  Germany  during  past  centu- 
ries may  be  justly  attributed  to  the  gradual  extinction  of 
her  freedom. 

Although  recognizing  a  brother  nation  in  that  of  Britain, 
we  must,  in  pursuance  of  our  plan,  here  take  our  leave  of 
that  great  people,  and  confine  ourselves  solely  to  the  history 
of  Germany.  Still  it  ought  never  to  be  forgotten,  whenever 
the  power  and  glory  of  England  form  the  theme,  that  these 
proud  islanders  own  a  common  origin  with  ourselves,  and 
that  the  civil  government  of  which  they  so  justly  boast 
sprang  from  the  ancient  free  constitution  of  our  fatherland. 


GERMANY.    VOL.  I.  —  11 


242  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 


PART    VI 
CHARLEMAGNE 

XOVIL    The  Austrasian  Mayors  of  the  Palace 

THE  degenerate  Merovingians,  alike  unworthy  and  in- 
capable of  ruling,  weakened  by  family  dissensions, 
by  their  effeminacy,  and  by  the  system  of  monkish 
education,  gradually  sank  beneath  the  sway  of  the  mayors 
of  the  palace,  who,  as  the  hereditary  representatives  of  the 
vassals  of  the  crown,  from  whose  number  they  had  origi- 
nally been  chosen,  and  whose  interests  they  consequently 
forwarded,  found  means  to  usurp  the  control  of  the  state 
in  time  of  peace  as  well  as  of  war,  and,  by  craftily  sur- 
rounding the  kings  with  the  pomp  and  external  show  of 
the  power  they  wielded  in  their  stead,  by  freeing  them  from 
the  burden  of  government,  and  by  favoring  their  love  of 
idleness  and  pleasure,  rendered  themselves  ever  necessary 
to  and  generally  beloved  by  their  nominal  sovereigns.  For- 
bearing to  place  the  crown  on  their  own  heads,  from  a  fear 
of  becoming  obnoxious  to  the  majority  of  the  people,  and 
of  the  security  of  their  position  being  endangered  by  the 
vassals,  their  jealous  adherents,  whom  such  a  step  would 
inevitably  change  into  ambitious  rivals,  it  was  not  until 
the  mayoralty  had  been  gradually  and  firmly  established, 
by  dint  of  good  fortune  and  of  great  talent,  as  a  hereditary 
dignity,  that  they  ventured  by  slow  and  sure  means  to  pre- 
pare for  its  seizure.  By  countenancing  the  disputes  for  the 
succession  to  the  throne,  and  the  murderous  and  treacherous 
propensities  of  the  Merovingians,  whom  they  corrupted  and 
weakened  from  then*  early  childhood,  both  mentally  and 
physically,  by  indulgence  and  religious  superstitions,  they 


CHARLEMAGNE  243 

succeeded  in  rendering  them  contemptible  to  their  subjects, 
while  they  removed  every  suspicion  of  the  existence  of  their 
ambitious  projects  by  their  apparent  submission  to  their 
puppet  sovereigns,  and  gained  the  hearts  of  the  nation  by 
flattering  the  vassals,  by  their  impartial  administration  of 
justice,  by  their  warlike  deeds,  the  glory  of  which  redounded 
to  the  honor  of  France,  by  their  extension  of  the  limits  of 
the  state,  and  by  their  promotion  of  the  public  weal. 

The  supremacy  of  the  Austrasians  was  closely  bound  up 
with  that  of  the  mayors;  both  rising  at  the  same  time,  and 
mutually  assisting  each  other.  The  true-born  German  Rhen- 
ish Franks,  Thuringians,  Alemanni,  and  Bavarians,  with 
whom  the  Burgundians  at  first  coalesced,  presented  a  vivid 
contrast,  under  the  general  denomination  of  Austrasians,  to 
the  more  Romanized  Neustrians,  who  consisted  of  the  "West 
Franks,  Romans,  Goths,  Basques,  and  Bretons.  The  Aus- 
trasians, gifted  with  all  the  energy  of  the  genuine  German 
character,  and  endowed  with  the  valor  and  strength  of  their 
ancestors,  whose  customs  and  language  they  faithfully  re- 
tained, despised  and  gradually  became  estranged  from  the 
Neustrians  on  account  of  their  weakness,  licentiousness,  and 
treachery,  and  as  the  difference  between  their  character  and 
language  became  more  marked,  a  reciprocal  and  bitter  hatred 
arose  between  them.  The  Austrasians,  happily  governed  by 
able  monarchs,  covered  themselves  with  glory  and  increased 
their  skill  in  warfare  in  their  contests  with  the  other  nations 
of  Germany.  It  was  also  their  mayors  of  the  palace  who 
seized  the  supreme  authority,  which  they  alone  held  through 
the  favor  of  their  countrymen. 

XCVIII.  Pipin  von  Landen 

IN  622,  Chlotar  the  Second  made  his  son,  Dagobert,  king 
of  Austrasia,  and  the  brave  Pipin  von  Landen,  the  first  of 
the  vassals  who  had  rebelled  against.  Queen  Brunehilda,  be- 
came his  mayor  of  the  palace.  Pipin,  whose  family  came 
from  the  Netherlands,  was  the  founder  of  the  powerful  race 


244  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

of  subsequent  mayors,  which  two  centuries  later  mounted 
the  imperial  throne  of  Germany,  and  assumed  the  name  of 
Carlovingian,  from  Charlemagne,  his  most  illustrious  de- 
scendant. Chlotar  was  still  alive  when  a  war  broke  out 
between  Dagobert  and  the  Saxons,  whose  duke,  Bertoald, 
is  said  to  have  wounded  him  in  battle  in  the  head,  upon 
which  he  sent  one  of  his  blood-stained  locks  to  his  father, 
who  instantly  marched  into  Saxony  and  took  a  most  fearful 
vengeance.  Duke  Bertoald  fell  in  battle,  and  every  prisoner 
who  was  taller  than  the  length  of  Chlotar 's  sword  was  put 
to  death.  Peace  was  at  length  concluded  on  condition  of 
their  paying  a  tribute  of  five  hundred  stallions.  The  Saxons 
were  also  much  disturbed  by  the  Normans.  Sifrit,  the  Saxon 
duke,  while  solemnizing  his  marriage  with  Giritta,  a  beauti- 
ful Dane,  was  suddenly  attacked  and  slain,  and  the  bride 
carried  off  by  the  pirate  Haldan,  a  Swedish  sea-king. 

On  the  death  of  Chlotar,  Dagobert  became  king  of  the 
whole  of  France,  A.D.  628.  The  wound  he  had  received  in 
the  Saxon  war  had  disgusted  him  with  warfare,  and  he  lived 
in  voluptuous  and  splendid  indolence  at  Paris,  surrounded 
by  his  three  queens  and  numerous  concubines ;  a  mode  of 
life  he  attempted  to  palliate  by  alleging  the  example  of  King 
Solomon,  and  by  lavishing  wealth  and  favors  on  the  clergy. 
Among  the  numerous  churches  built  by  this  king,  that  of 
St.  Denis,  whom  he  elected  as  the  patron  saint  of  his  king- 
dom, is  most  remarkable.  The  incessant  pilgrimages  to  the 
shrine  of  St.  Denis  soon  attracted  commerce,  and  a  large 
market,  the  chief  emporium  of  Europe,  was  erected  in  its 
vicinity.  About  this  time,  Samo,  a  Frankish  merchant, 
who  had  gained  great  popularity  among  the  Slavian  Wendi, 
was  elected  their  king,  and  succeeding  in  uniting  them  be- 
neath his  rule,  repulsed  the  Avari.  Some  Frankish  mer- 
chants happening  to  be  killed  while  passing  through  his 
territory,  Dagobert  seized  that  occurrence  as  a  pretext  for 
attacking  the  new  Slavian  kingdom,  and  declared  war 
against  him;  but  Samo  offering  a  brave  and  determined 
resistance,  and  defeating  the  Franks  in  a  great  battle,  near 


CHARLEMAGNE  245 

Wodgatisburg,  which  lasted  three  days,  gained  so  much  re- 
nown that  the  Slavian  Sorbi  and  their  king,  Dorwan,  volun- 
tarily submitted  to  him,  A.D.  630.  Pipin,  who,  until  now, 
had  not  taken  part  in  the  contest,  proffered  his  services  in 
this  moment  of  necessity,  and  wisely  releasing  the  Saxons 
from  their  tribute,  besides  yielding  to  the  request  of  the 
Thuringians,  to  place  Radulf,  their  fellow  countryman  and 
a  pagan,  at  their  head,  united  the  heathen  and  Christian 
Germans  in  a  national  war  against  the  Slavi,  in  which  he 
was  victorious.  Samo's  kingdom  fell  as  rapidly  as  it  had 
been  raised,  and  the  Slavi  were  henceforward  necessitated 
to  seek  assistance  from  the  Germans  against  the  Avari. 

Dagobert  died,  A.D.  638,  and  the  kingdom  was  again 
divided  among  his  sons;  Sigebert  the  Third  reigning  over 
Austrasia,  and  Chlodwig  the  Second  over  Neustria.  On 
the  death  of  Pipin,  A.D.  639,  who  during  these  changes  had 
retained  his  mayoralty  in  Austrasia,  his  son,  Grimoald,  was 
removed  from  his  office  (the  influence  possessed  by  his  fam- 
ily having  already  alarmed  the  jealousy  of  the  king),  and 
Otto  was  created  mayor  in  his  stead ;  upon  this,  the  old  party 
of  Pipin,  and  the  dukes,  Radulf  of  Thuringia  and  Fara  of 
Bavaria,  asserted  their  independence,  and  Otto,  marching 
against  them  with  Sigebert,  slew  Fara,  but,  being  compelled 
by  Radulf  to  retreat,  lost  his  ascendency  over  the  vassals, 
and  Grimoald  was  recalled.  No  sooner  was  Sigebert  dead 
than  Grimoald,  regardless  of  the  warnings  of  an  aged  monk, 
ventured  to  place  his  son  Childebert  on  the  throne;  but  it 
was  still  too  early;  the  mutual  jealousies  of  the  Merovingians 
and  Carlovingians  still  presented  too  many  advantages  to 
the  clergy  and  the  vassals,  and  Grimoald  fell,  with  his  un- 
fortunate son,  beneath  the  poniards  of  the  rivals  his  ambition 
had  evoked. 

XCIX.  Pipin  von  Heristal 

DAGOBERT  the  Second,  the  son  of  Sigebert,  had  been  con- 
fined by  Grimoald  in  an  Irish  monastery,  where  he  was  al- 
lowed to  remain;  the  clergy  and  the  vassals  agreeing  to 


246  THE    HISTORY    OF    GERMANY 

reunite  the  whole  of  France  under  Chlodwig  the  Second, 
who  had  been  driven  out  of  his  senses  by  remorse  for  hav- 
ing broken  off  the  arm  of  St.  Dionysius,  in  order  to  carry 
it  about  with  him  as  a  relic;  an  action  he  was  afterward 
induced  to  regard  as  a  deadly  sin.  Nanthilda,  his  mother, 
who  governed  in  his  name  under  the  direction  of  Floachat, 
the  mayor  of  the  palace,  swore  to  maintain  all  the  clergy 
and  the  vassals  (who  were  already  powerful  enough  to  carry 
on  their  machinations  openly  and  in  defiance  of  the  people) 
in  their  dignities  and  lands  during  her  lifetime.  The  death 
of  Chlodwig,  A.D.  656,  occasioned  fresh  disturbances,  the 
kingdom  being  again  divided  among  his  sons.  Chlotar  the 
Second  was  placed  on  the  throne  of  Neustria,  where  Ebroin, 
the  mayor  of  the  place,  afterward  raised  himself  to  great 
power.  Chlotar  died  early.  Childerich,  who  became  king 
of  Austrasia,  infringed  the  liberties  of  the  people  by  causing 
a  freeman,  of  the  name  of  Badillo,  to  be  whipped,  and  was 
murdered  by  his  exasperated  subjects,  A.D.  673.  Theodorich 
the  Third,  who  had  been  destined  for  the  cloister,  inherited 
his  brothers'  kingdoms,  over  which  Ebroin  ruled  in  his 
name.  The  Austrasians  rebelled  against  him,  and  draw- 
ing Dagobert  the  Second  from  his  seclusion,  attempted  to 
place  him  on  the  throne,  to  which  two  Merovingians,  both 
of  whom  were  monks,  disputed  the  succession.  Ebroin  was 
at  first  unsuccessful,  but  escaping  from  a  monastery  in  which 
he  had  been  imprisoned,  was  again  victorious,  and  caused 
Dagobert  to  be  put  to  death.  Pipin  von  Heristal,  the  grand- 
son of  one  of  the  daughters  of  Pipin  von  Landen,  now  placed 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  Austrasians,  and  Ebroin  was  de- 
feated and  killed.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  mayoralty  by 
the  brave  Berchar,  who  had  in  his  camp  Theodorich,  the 
legitimate  sovereign,  and  the  only  remaining  descendant  of 
the  house  of  Merowig,  against  whom  Pipin  and  the  Austra- 
sians were  arrayed  in  open  rebellion,  in  which  they  were 
countenanced  by  the  people,  who,  weary  of  intestine  feuds, 
and  indifferent  to  legitimacy,  were  inclined  to  side  with  the 
party  that  gave  proof  of  greater  bravery  and  capacity,  which 


CHARLEMAGNE  247 

explains  the  remarkable  battle  of  Testri,  in  which  victory 
sided  with  the  Carlovingians,  A.D.  687.  Pipin  won  this  bat- 
tle by  stratagem.  Setting  fire  to  his  own  camp,  he  suddenly 
fell  upon  the  Neustrians,  who  had  hastened  to  pillage  it  un- 
der the  impression  of  his  having  retired,  and  put  them  so 
completely  to  rout  that  no  further  opposition  was  raised. 
Although  universally  recognized  as  the  only  man  capable 
of  reforming  the  state,  he  merely  compelled  Theodorich  to 
acknowledge  him  as  mayor  of  the  whole  of  France,  and, 
warned  by  the  fate  of  Grimoald  and  Ebroin,  permitted  him 
to  retain  the  shadow  of  royalty  while  he  held  the  substance. 
Dating  from  this  period,  the  Merovingians  no  longer  inter- 
meddled with  the  government.  The  monarch,  a  mere  cipher, 
shut  up  in  his  palace,  contented  himself  with  frivolous  amuse- 
ments, and  showed  himself  occasionally  to  the  people  on  the 
Marzfeld,  where,  sumptuously  attired  and  wearing  his  long 
golden  hair,  he  graciously  received  the  gifts  of  his  subjects, 
or  nodded  approbation  to  the  transactions  conducted  by  the 
mayor  of  the  palace.  Pipin  survived  two  Merovingian 
kings,  the  successors  of  Theodorich,  whose  death  did  not 
lessen  his  power.  His  first  care  was  the  regulation  of  the 
interior  economy  of  the  state,  and  he  again  regulated  the 
Marzfelder,  or  annual  general  state  assemblies,  which  had 
been  for  some  tune  neglected  or  irregularly  held,  and  in 
which  the  ancient  democracy  (the  freemen)  was  now  com- 
pletely overruled  by  the  new  aristocracy  formed  by  the 
clergy  and  the  vassals.  The  piety  of  the  Bavarian  Plec- 
trudis,  the  wife  of  Pipin,  secured  to  him  the  favor  of  the 
church.  The  period  had  also  now  arrived  for  confirming 
the  external  security  of  the  state.  The  Franks,  rendered 
powerful  by  their  union,  no  longer  deigned  to  tolerate  the 
insolence  of  their  neighbors  and  that  of  the  rebellious  tribes, 
and  the  consequent  insurrections  of  the  Basques,  Goths,  and 
Bretons  in  France  were  easily  quelled  by  Pipin.  The  war 
on  the  frontier  of  Austrasia  proved  more  difficult ;  particu- 
larly that  carried  on  in  Friesland  against  Bathod,  the  pagan 
king,  who  was  vainly  besieged  in  his  impregnable  peninsulas 


248  THE  HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

and  islands,  the  capital  of  which  was  Heligoland,  at  that 
time  a  large  island,  now  reduced  by  the  encroaching  waves 
to  a  sea-girt  rock.  At  the  close  of  the  sixth  century,  St. 
Faro  and  the  two  Ewalds,  and  in  the  seventh  century,  Sui- 
bert,  vainly  endeavored  to  convert  the  Saxons.  The  Thu- 
ringians  also  obstinately  resisted  the  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity by  the  Franks.  Hetan,  the  son  of  Radulf,  had 
married  St.  Bilihilda,  but  his  son,  Gozbert,  was  induced 
to  apostatize  by  Gailana,  his  brother's  widow,  whom  by 
the  ecclesiastical  law  he  was  prohibited  to  marry.  This 
circumstance  occasioned  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Kilian,  who 
was  then  preaching  in  Thuringia.  An  insurrection,  secretly 
incited  by  Pipin,  broke  out  against  Gozbert,  who  was  killed 
and  his  whole  race  exterminated. 

Bavaria  had  been  Christianized  by  Regintrudis,  the  Frank- 
ish  wife  of  the  duke,  Theodo,  and  by  the  saints,  Rupert  and 
Emmeram,  the  former  of  whom  destroyed  the  heathen  altars 
at  Altotting,  where  the  seven  deities  or  planets  were  wor- 
shiped, and  founded  the  celebrated  bishopric  of  Salzburg. 
At  first  the  wild  mountaineers  would  not  listen  to  him,  and 
said  that  the  God  of  the  Christians  was  poor,  or  he  would 
not  let  his  worshipers  suffer  so  much  from  want,  and  jeal- 
ous, as  he  would  not  tolerate  any  other  god  besides  himself; 
but  they  speedily  altered  their  opinion  when  they  saw  the 
mines  and  salt-works  progressing  under  the  direction  of  the 
saint.  It  is  related  of  St.  Emmeram,  who  founded  the  bish- 
opric of  Ratisbon,  that,  being  accused  by  Uta,  the  daughter 
of  Theodo,  as  her  seducer,  in  order  to  save  the  life  of  the 
real  criminal,  he  meekly  suffered  the  punishment  from  mo- 
tives of  Christian  charity,  and  that  his  innocence  was  proved 
by  a  miracle  after  his  death. 

To  these  legendary  times  belong  St.  Ottilia  and  St.  Gear ; 
the  former  of  whom  was  the  daughter  of  Eticho,  count  of 
Alsace,  who,  being  born  blind,  received  sight  at  her  bap- 
tism, and  lived  as  a  saint  on  the  mountain  near  Strassburg, 
called  after  her,  the  Ottilienberg.  St.  Goar,  toward  the 
close  of  the  sixth  century,  built  a  hut  beneath  the  frightful 


CHARLEMAGNE  249 

rocks  of  the  Lurlei,  in  the  narrowest  part  of  the  Rhine,  in 
order  to  save  the  shipwrecked,  and  to  feed  the  starving  wan- 
derer.1 Pipin's  eventful  life  closed  in  714,  and  in  the  same 
year  his  son,  Grimoald,  was  murdered  in  a  church  at  Liege, 
at  the  instigation  of  some  of  the  jealous  nobles. 

C.   Charles  Martell 

THE  deaths  of  Pipin  and  of  Grimoald  occasioned  fresh 
confusion  in  France.  Plectrudis,  the  widow  of  Pipin,  who 
had  found  means  to  usurp  the  chief  authority,  being  anxious 
to  retain  the  mayoralty  for  her  grandson,  Theudoald,  the 
son  of  Grimoald,  kept  Charles,  a  natural  son  of  Pipin,  in 
prison,  fearing  lest  he  might  prove  a  dangerous  opponent 
to  her  designs.  The  Neustrians,  who  had  unwillingly 
brooked  the  authority  of  Pipin,  now  seized  the  favorable 
moment. 

Theodorich  the  Third  was  succeeded  by  Chlodwig  the 
Third,  Childebert,  and  Dagobert  the  Third,  A.D.  715,  who 
was  succeeded  by  Chilperich  the  Second  in  Neustria,  where 
the  nobles  elected,  in  his  name.  Raganfried,  as  their  mayor, 
and  instantly  attacked  Austrasia.  The  youthful  Theudoald 
was  defeated,  and  shortly  afterward  died;  and  the  Neu- 
strians,  the  better  to  secure  their  victory,  entered  into  an 
alliance  with  Rathod  of  Friesland.  The  harassed  Austra- 
sians  now  bethought  themselves  of  the  imprisoned  Charles, 
who  was  no  sooner  set  at  liberty  than  he  marched  at  their 
head  against  the  Frisii,  but  owing  to  the  numerical  insuffi- 
ciency of  his  troops  suffered  a  defeat,  A.D.  716.  The  winter 
was  spent  by  him  in  inspiriting  the  Austrasians,  and  in  col- 
lecting a  fresh  and  powerful  army,  with  which  in  the  ensu- 
ing spring  he  defeated  the  Neustrians  at  Cambray,  by  mak- 

1  The  little  town  of  St.  Goar  retained,  in  memory  of  the  hospitality  of  this 
saint,  even  to  our  times,  the  custom  of  placing  a  brass  necklace  around  the  neck 
of  the  passing  stranger,  with  the  inquiry  "whether  he  would  be  baptized  with 
water  or  with  wine?"  If  with  water,  he  was  well  besprinkled;  if  with  wine,  he 
was  offered  a  full  golden  goblet,  which  he  emptied  to  the  health  of  the  emperor, 
and  in  return  placed  his  alms  in  the  poor-box. 


250  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

ing  use  of  a  curious  stratagem.  A  single  Australian  rushing 
into  the  enemy's  camp,  ran  straight  through  it  calling  them 
to  arms,  and  while  the  astonished  Neustrians  were  engaged 
in  running  after  him,  Charles  fell  unexpectedly  on  their  rear. 
After  the  battle  he  hastened  to  Cologne,  where,  after  de- 
priving his  proud  stepmother  of  his  father's  treasure,  he  sent 
her  back  to  Bavaria,  her  native  country.  Having  secured 
the  country  to  the  rear,  he  now  returned  to  Neustria,  where 
he  set  Chlotar  the  Fourth,  a  descendant  of  a  side-branch 
of  the  Merovingian  family,  up  as  king.  Chilperich  fled  to 
Eudo,  duke  of  Aquitania,  whose  Basques  and  Goths,  stimu- 
lated by  their  ancient  and  hereditary  enmity,  marched  in 
great  numbers  against  the  Franks,  A.D.  719,  but,  being  com- 
pletely beaten  at  Soissons,  concluded  peace  with  Charles,  to 
whom  Eudo  delivered  Chilperich,  whose  life  speedily  drew 
to  its  close  when  in  the  power  of  his  victor.  Charles,  never- 
theless, remained  true  to  the  policy  of  his  family,  and  deprived 
the  jealous  nobles  of  every  pretext  for  revolt,  by  placing 
Theodorich  the  Fourth,  a  son  of  Dagobert  the  Third,  en  the 
throne.  Thus  were  the  hapless  Merovingians  raised  and  de- 
posed at  will.  — The  Bavarians  revolted  against  Charles,  who 
was  again  victorious,  and  married  the  beautiful  Sunichilda, 
the  daughter  of  Grimoald,  their  duke,  who,  being  killed  by 
his  own  people,  he  made  her  brother,  Huebert,  duke.  Frei- 
sing  was  at  this  period  founded  by  St.  Corbinian. 

An  immense  army  of  the  fanatical  and  hitherto  invincible 
Moors,  led  by  the  brave  Abderrahman,  after  destroying  the 
Visigothic  kingdom  in  Spain,  poured  across  the  Pyrenees 
into  France;  a  far  more  dangerous  foe  than  Etzel  and  his 
Huns,  who,  merely  greedy  of  conquest,  sought  not  to  enslave 
minds,  like  the  enthusiastic  children  of  the  South,  who,  the 
sword  in  one  hand,  the  Koran  in  the  other,  Allah  and  Ma- 
homet their  war-cry,  their  aim  the  reduction  of  Europe 
and  the  extirpation  of  Christianity,  marched  beneath  the 
Crescent,  the  standard  of  their  prophet,  against  the  hardy 
sons  of  the  North. 

The  frontiers  of  Spain  were,  at  that  time,  guarded  by 


CHARLEMAGNE  251 

Eudo,  duke  of  Aquitania,  who  had  long  aspired  to  independ- 
ence. Neustria  and  Austrasia  were  at  feud.  France,  torn 
by  internal  dissensions,  seemed  on  the  point  of  sharing  the 
fate  of  Spain,  when  the  destruction  with  which  Europe  and 
Christianity  were  threatened  was  warded  off  by  the  intrepid 
Charles.  Eudo,  who  had  at  first  hoped  to  make  use  of  the 
Moors  in  forwarding  his  designs  against  him,  had  given  his 
daughter  in  marriage  to  Munuz,  one  of  their  princes.  Ab- 
derrahman,  struck  with  her  beauty,  indignantly  asked  Mu- 
nuz, "how  he  had  presumed  to  keep  such  a  treasure  for  him- 
self, instead  of  sending  her  to  the  caliph, ' '  struck  off  his  head 
for  having  ventured  to  profane  such  beauty,  and  sent  the 
noble  lady  to  the  caliph's  harem  at  Damascus.  Eudo  at- 
tempted to  revenge  this  insult,  but  was  defeated  on  the 
Garonne,  and  compelled  to  fly  for  protection  to  Charles,  be- 
neath whose  standard  the  whole  arrier-ban  of  Austrasia,  the 
Netherlands,  the  Rhine,  Thuringia,  Swabia,  and  Bavaria 
had  assembled,  while  Luitprand,  at  the  head  of  his  Lom- 
bards, crossed  the  Alps  to  aid  in  the  defense  of  endangered 
Christendom.  A  battle  took  place  between  Tours  and  Poi- 
tiers, A.D.  732,  in  which  the  true-born  German  Austrasians, 
the  flower  of  the  North,  who  by  their  weight  bore  down  the 
impetuous  Moors,  distinguished  themselves  by  their  unyield- 
ing valor.  Abderrahman  was  slain,  and  375,000  of  his  fol- 
lowers were  left  on  the  field.  Europe  was  saved,  and  the 
Crescent  driven  beyond  the  Pyrenees.  Charles,  who  at  the 
head  of  his  Austrasians  had  slain  numbers  of  the  enemy, 
striking  them  on  the  head  like  an  iron  hammer,  was  hence- 
forward revered  as  the  hero  and  defender  of  Christianity, 
and  received  the  surname  of  Martell,  or  hammer,  in  memory 
of  his  prowess.  Six  years  after  this  event  the  ruinous  con- 
test was  recommenced  by  the  jealous  Neustrians.  Gothic 
Provence  attempted  to  assert  its  independence  under  Mau- 
rontius,  who  called  the  Arabs  to  his  aid  against  Martell,  by 
whom  their  power  was  again,  and  so  completely,  crushed 
at  Narbonne,  A.D.  738,  that  they  never  again  ventured  across 
the  fatal  Pyrenees,  and  Charles  secured  that  frontier  by  in- 


252  THE  HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

corporating  the  remaining  Visigoths  into  his  kingdom.  While 
he  was  thus  engaged  in  the  South,  the  heathen  Frisii  and 
Saxons  invaded  the  northern  frontier,  but  were  defeated, 
and  Rathod  was  at  length  reduced  to  submission  and  com- 
pelled to  embrace  Christianity.  Not  long  before  this  event, 
he  had  caused  St.  Wigbert  to  be  put  to  death  for  having 
slaughtered  some  sacred  oxen.  Charles  Martell  now  sent 
to  him  St.  "Wolfram,  by  whom  he  was  at  length  persuaded 
to  undergo  the  ceremony  of  baptism.  A  bath  was  accord- 
ingly prepared,  and  Rathod,  plunging  one  foot  into  the 
water,  was  about  to  immerse  his  whole  body,  when,  turn- 
ing to  the  saint,  he  inquired  whether  his  ancestors  were  in 
heaven,  and  being  answered,  "No,  in  hell,  for  they  were 
heathens,"  withdrew  his  foot  and  declared  that  he  pre- 
ferred remaining  with  them.  It  is  related  of  another  of 
the  Frisii  that  he  had  himself  several  times  baptized  for 
the  sake  of  the  gift  bestowed,  on  the  occasion,  by  the  clergy 
on  the  convert.  Religion  must  be  ever  and  unavoidably 
desecrated  when  used  as  a  political  engine.  Poppo,  the  suc- 
cessor of  Rathod,  fell  opposing  the  Christians;  all  attempts 
to  extirpate  paganism  in  Friesland  proved,  nevertheless,  un- 
availing. 

Charles  Martell,  although  the  savior  of  Christendom, 
was  by  no  means  remarkable  for  piety.  The  contempt  to 
which  his  illegitimate  birth  had  subjected  him  during  his 
youth,  ever  inclined  him,  as  if  from  a  spirit  of  defiance,  to 
side  with  bastards  and  younger  sons,  against  rightful  heirs 
and  elder  brothers.  He  formed  them  into  a  bodyguard,  made 
them  his  boon  companions,  and  enriched  them  not  only  with 
temporal  feofs,  but  also  with  gifts  of  bishoprics  and  abbeys. 
Before  the  commencement  of  the  great  war  with  the  Moors, 
he  had  forced  the  clergy,  under  pain  of  forfeiting  their  pos- 
sessions, to  appear  in  person  in  the  field  (in  those  times  every 
man  without  distinction  of  rank  or  profession  was  bound  to 
carry  arms),  so  that  the  clergy,  enrolled  in  his  service,  were 
already  habituated  to  the  license  of  a  camp,  and  to  the  pleas- 
ures of  the  chase.  The  feudal  vassals  and  the  clergy  conse- 


CHARLEMAGNE  253 

quently  intermingled  and  formed  one  body.  To  these  rough 
times  belongs  the  touching  legend  of  St.  Genoveva  of  Bra- 
bant, the  wife  of  Graf  Siegfried,  the  lord  of  Andernach, 
who,  when  marching  against  the  invading  Moors,  intrusted 
her  to  the  care  of  Golo,  his  favorite.  Inflamed  by  her  beauty, 
and  enraged  at  the  failure  of  his  attempts  upon  her  virtue, 
Golo  accused  her  of  infidelity,  and  she  was  condemned  to 
death.  The  executioners,  moved  to  compassion,  spared  her 
life  and  that  of  her  child,  and  she  lived  for  a  long  time  con- 
cealed in  a  forest,  in  nakedness  and  solitude.  The  child  was 
suckled  by  a  doe,  and  her  life  was  miraculously  sustained, 
until  Siegfried,  one  day,  when  following  the  chase,  discov- 
ered her  in  her  grotto,  and  her  innocence  was  proved.  She 
is  still  honored  as  a  saint  at  Andernach. 

CI.  Pipin  the  Little 

CHARLES  MARTELL  died  in  741,  leaving  two  sons,  Carl- 
mann  and  Pipin,  and  a  daughter,  Chiltruda,  by  his  first 
wife;  and  by  his  second,  the  Bavarian  Sunichilda,  a  son 
named  Grippo,  who  was  deprived  of  his  share  in  the  inherit- 
ance and  imprisoned  by  his  elder  brothers.  Sunichilda  took 
refuge  in  a  convent,  and  Chiltruda,  influenced  by  affection 
for  her  stepmother,  escaped  from  her  brothers  to  Bavaria, 
where  she  married  Odilo,  the  duke  of  that  country,  who, 
with  Hunoald  of  Aquitania,  the  Alemanni  under  Theude- 
wald,  and  the  Saxons  under  Theodorich,  simultaneously  at- 
tacked the  brave  sons  of  Martell.  They  were  defeated  both 
collectively  and  separately,  Hunoald  in  742,  Odilo  on  the 
Lech,  by  the  Franks,  who  crossed  the  river  and  attacked 
him  during  the  night,  in  743,  the  Saxons  in  745,  and  the 
Alemanni  in  746.  Their  duke,  Theudewald,  and  many  other 
prisoners  of  note  were  executed  by  order  of  Carlmann,  who 
passed  sentence  upon  them  at  Cannstadt,  but  was  subse- 
quently haunted  by  such  deep  remorse  for  his  cruelty  that, 
withdrawing  to  a  monastery,  he  resigned  the  whole  author- 
ity to  his  younger  brother,  Pipin,  surnamed  the  Little,  on 


254  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

account  of  the  shortness  of  his  stature.  His  strength  was 
so  prodigious  that  on  one  occasion  he  cut  off  a  lion's  head 
with  a  single  stroke  of  his  sword.  His  first  act,  on  the  at- 
tainment of  undivided  power,  was  the  liberation  of  Grippo, 
who,  taking  refuge  among  the  Saxons  and  Frisii,  induced 
them  to  take  up  arms  against  his  brother.  Finding  himself 
unable  to  keep  the  field,  he  sought  the  protection  of  Thassilo, 
the  son  of  Odilo,  who  was  then  reigning  in  Bavaria,  under 
the  tutelage  of  his  mother,  Chiltruda.  Lanfried,  duke  of 
Aleinannia,  and  Suitzo,  another  powerful  Alemannian,  lent 
him  their  aid,  but  they  were  all  defeated  and  taken  prisoners 
by  Pipin,  who  again  pardoned  his  brother.  Grippo,  discon- 
tented and  restless,  fled  anew  to  "Waisar,  the  son  of  Hunoald, 
of  Aquitania,  who  refused  to  receive  him,  and  he  attempted 
to  escape  into  Lombardy,  but  was  intercepted  in  the  Alps  by 
Frederick,  the  Graf  of  the  French  frontier,  and  striving  to 
force  his  way,  fell,  after  a  desperate  struggle,  with  the  whole 
of  his  followers,  A.D.  750.  Pipin  was,  at  the  time  of  this 
occurrence,  engaged  in  a  second  campaign  against  the  Sax- 
ons, on  whom  he  again  imposed  an  annual  tribute  of  three 
hundred  horses. 

No  less  prudent  in  his  policy  than  fortunate  in  the  field, 
Pipin  now  saw  that  the  time  had  at  length  arrived  for  put- 
ting the  long-cherished  projects  of  his  ancestors  into  execu- 
tion. Four  generations  of  the  Merovingians,  degraded  by 
sloth,  despised,  neglected,  and  almost  forgotten,  had  passed 
away,  while  -the  Carlo vingians  possessed  the  real  authority 
and  the  popular  esteem,  and  it  became  daily  more  evident 
which  of  the  two  families  was  the  more  fitted  for  the  throne. 
Pipin,  whose  ancestors  had  consolidated  their  power  by  mak- 
ing common  cause  with  the  vassals,  now  secured  success  by 
gaining  over  the  pope  and  the  clergy.  The  pope,  Zacharias, 
at  that  time  hard  pressed  by  Aistulf ,  king  of  Lombardy,  will- 
ingly countenanced  plans  that  favored  his  own  interest,  while 
Pipin,  in  order  the  more  deeply  to  impress  upon  him  the  value 
of  his  support,  designedly  delayed  his  much  wished-for  as- 
sistance, and,  sending  an  embassador  to  Rome,  proposed  this 


CHARLEMAGNE  255 

question  to  the  pontiff,  "Whether  he  was  king  who  sat  care- 
lessly at  home,  or  he  who  bore  the  burden  of  government?" 
The  pope  instantly  replied,  "that  the  latter  alone  merited  the 
crown."  Upon  this,  Pipin  called  a  general  state  assembly 
at  Soissons,  and  the  whole  nation  assenting  to  ihe  pope's 
verdict,  Childerich,  the  last  of  the  Merovingians,  was  torn 
from  the  throne  of  his  fathers,  consigned,  with  shaven  head, 
to  the  cloister,  and  Pipin  was  unanimously  proclaimed  king. 
St.  Bonifacius  placed  the  crown  on  his  head,  and  anointed 
him,  according  to  ancient  custom,  like  his  predecessor 
Chlodwig,  with  the  sacred  oil.  At  the  same  time  the 
general  state  assembly,  held  in  March,  was  transferred  to 
May,  A.D.  752,  a  change  by  which  Bonifacius  hoped  to 
obliterate  every  remembrance  of  paganism,  and  Pipin, 
that  of  the  Merovingians. 

After  the  death  of  Zacharias,  Pipin  still  retarded  the 
promised  aid  against  the  Lombards,  in  order  to  render 
Stephen,  the  new  pontiff,  as  tractable  as  his  predecessor. 
The  pope  at  length,  urged  by  necessity,  crossed  the  Alps  in 
person,  and  prostrating  himself  at  the  feet  of  the  French 
monarch,  humbly  solicited  his  protection.  Pipin,  satisfied 
with  this  act  of  humility,  marched,  accompanied  by  the 
pope,  into  Italy,  and  forced  Aistulf  to  accept  the  most  dis- 
graceful terms  of  peace,  A.D.  754.  The  Lombards,  however, 
fully  alive  to  the  danger  with  which  they  were  threatened  by 
the  increasing  power  of  the  pope,  and  by  his  alliance  with 
France,  resolved  to  struggle  to  the  last,  and  Aistulf,  break- 
ing the  treaty,  again  besieged  Rome.  Pipin  again  marched 
to  the  relief  of  the  city,  A.D.  756,  and  the  Lombards,  after 
suffering  a  complete  defeat,  were  reduced  to  submission. 
Aistulf  was  killed  by  the  falling  of  his  horse.  Desiderius,  a 
court  official,  became  king  of  Lombardy  through  French  in- 
fluence. His  son  Adelgis  married  a  French  princess,  and 
his  daughter  Desiderata  was  wedded  to  the  youthful  Charles, 
afterward  Charlemagne.  Pipin,  anxious  to  erect  a  strong 
power,  in  opposition  to  that  of  the  Lombards,  in  Italy  itself, 
gave  the  then  existing  exarchate  or  great  territory  of  Ra- 


256  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

venna  and  Rome  in  fief  to  the  pope,  who,  in  return,  named 
him  patrician  and  guardian  of  Rome. 

Thus  commenced  the  temporal  power  of  the  pope,  whose 
spiritual  authority  was,  at  the  same  tune,  subservient  to  that 
of  the  monarch;  an  alliance  whose  influence  could  not  be 
long  resisted  by  any  of  the  states  independent  of  the  empire, 
or  by  any  power  still  possessed  by  the  people.  Pipin  was 
also  successful  in  his  wars  against  the  Saxons,  whom  he 
again  rendered  tributary,  and  in  that  undertaken  against 
Waisar,  duke  of  Aquitania,  whom  he  pursued  so  long  and 
unremittingly  in  the  Pyrenees  that  his  subjects,  the  Basques, 
at  length  put  him  to  death  for  the  sake  of  peace.  Thassilo, 
the  youthful  duke  of  Bavaria,  impatient  of  the  yoke  imposed 
by  Pipin,  refused  to  render  feudal  service  in  the  field  against 
Waisar;  a  conduct  which  Pipin  prudently  overlooked.  Pipin 
died,  shortly  afterward,  in  768. 

Oil.   St.  Bonifacius 

THE  co-operative  policy  of  the  Frankish  rulers  and  the 
Roman  bishops  laid  the  foundation  to  what  may  be  termed 
the  body  of  the  church,  while  her  spirituality  was  solely  fos- 
tered by  the  independent,  free,  and  pure  zeal  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  Irish  monks.  In  the  British  isles,  far  beyond  the 
influence  of  the  Roman  hierarchy  and  of  the  feudal  aristoc- 
racy of  France,  Christianity  had  taken  a  democratic  form, 
and,  unpolluted  by  the  new  spirit  of  political  conquest  and 
of  feudal  tyranny,  had  blended  with  the  ancient  spirit  of 
popular  freedom.  Here  were  no  imperious  and  covetous 
feudal  churchmen,  too  fully  occupied  with  the  pastime  of 
the  chase,  with  war  and  politics,  to  be  interested  in  the  pro- 
mulgation of  the  gospel,  but  humble,  pious  teachers  of  broth- 
erly love,  who,  instead  of  shutting  themselves  within  their 
abbey  walls,  instead  of  accumulating  wealth  or  seeking  to 
extend  their  temporal  power,  went  forth,  like  the  first 
apostles,  to  guide  their  erring  brethren,  and  to  enlighten 
the  yet  unconverted  heathen,  to  whom,  far  from  imposing 


CHARLEMAGNE  257 

Christianity  upon  them  with  the  bigoted  zeal  of  conquering 
despots,  they  preached  the  doctrine  of  eternal  peace,  compell- 
ing no  one  to  embrace  the  mild  religion  of  Jesus,  but  gently 
persuading  them  by  precept  and  example  of  its  truth  and 
beauty.  The  first  Anglo-Saxon  apostles  strongly  reprobated 
the  political  corruption  of  the  Frankish  church,  and  the  arro- 
gant pretensions  of  the  pope,  against  which  St.  Columban 
wrote,  and  consequently  fell  into  disgrace  with  the  Frankish 
court.  The  mayors  of  the  palace,  however,  perceived  at 
length  that  the  pious,  disinterested  Anglo-Saxons  were  cal- 
culated, far  better  than  the  Franks,  to  succeed  in  converting 
the  heathen  inhabitants  of  eastern  Germany,  on  account  of 
their  enthusiastic  zeal  and  superior  religious  knowledge, 
added  to  the  circumstance  of  their  being,  in  their  character 
of  foreigners,  less  obnoxious  to  the  Frisii,  Saxons,  Thurin- 
gians,  Alemanni,  and  Bavarians,  who  regarded  the  Franks 
in  the  light  of  oppressors  and  deceivers;  they  therefore 
countenanced  the  foreign  monks,  and  repeatedly  invited 
them  into  the  country. 

During  the  seventh  century,  St.  Fridolin  founded  the 
monastery  of  Seckingen  on  the  Upper  Rhine  ;*  St.  Columban 
destroyed  the  pagan  images  at  Bregenz  on  the  Bodensee; 
St.  Gallus  founded  a  hermitage,  afterward  the  celebrated 
monastery  of  St.  Gall,  in  the  depths  of  the  forests,  where  he 
was  served  by  a  bear ;  St.  Amandus  destroyed  the  image  of 
Odin  at  Ghent;  St.  Eligius  converted  the  Saxon  prisoners; 
the  saints,  Wigbert,  Wolfram,  Willebrand  (the  first  bishop 
of  Utrecht,  A.D.  799),  preached  among  the  Frisii;  the  saints, 
Suidbert  and  Sturmio  (a  Bavarian  by  birth,  and  first  abbot 
of  the  great  monastery  of  Fulda),  among  the  Hessians;  St. 
Magnoald  founded  Fiissen  in  Swabia ;  St.  Theodore,  Kemp- 
ten;  St.  Offo,  Offonszell;  St.  Landolin  (who,  for  cutting 
down  a  sacred  fir  tree  and  forming  a  cross  out  of  it,  was 
murdered  by  the  heathen  Alemanni),  Ettenheimmunster; 

1  The  people  of  Glarus  made  pilgrimages  and  paid  contributions  to  it  at  an 
early  period,  and  the  arms  of  that  canton  still  retain  the  figure  of  Fridolin,  in 
the  dresa  of  a  wandering  hermit. 


258  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

and  St.  Pirmin,  Reichenau.  Besides  these,  in  Thuringian 
East  Franconia  and  in  Bavaria,  St.  Kilian  suffered  martyr- 
dom at  "Wurzburg;  St.  Sebaldus  (according  to  tradition,  a 
Danish  prince  who  fled  on  his  wedding  night  and  abandoned 
earthly  for  heavenly  love),  died  at  Nuremberg;  St.  Corbin- 
ian  founded  Freising;  St.  Emmeram,  Ratisbon;  and  St.  Ru- 
pert, Salzburg.  The  foundation  of  the  celebrated  monaste- 
ries in  Alsace,  Altaich,  Benedictbeuren,  Tegernsee,  Priim, 
and  Lorsch  also  date  during  the  eighth  century. 

,  Winfried,  an  Anglo-Saxon,  better  known  by  his  monkish 
surname  of  St.  Bonifacius,  distinguished  himself  above  all 
these  apostles,  by  his  energy,  zeal,  and  success.  Zealously 
imagim'ng  that  the  temporal  and  spiritual  rule  of  the  church 
ought  to  be  universal,  and  that  the  power  of  the  Romish- 
Frankish  church  might  consistently  blend  with  the  Christian 
zeal  and  brotherly  love  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  monks,  he  no 
longer  contented  himself,  like  his  predecessors,  with  convert- 
ing the  heathen  and  with  founding  hermitages  in  the  forest 
solitudes,  but  aiming  at  the  reformation  of  the  existing 
FranMsh  church,  intermeddled  with  the  proceedings  of  the 
bishops  and  with  the  policy  of  the  state.  Pipin,  who  had 
just  concluded  his  alliance  with  the  pope,  A.D.  755,  with  the 
intention  of  placing  the  Carlovingian  dynasty  on  the  throne 
of  Merowig,  found  a  strenuous  supporter  in  Bonifacius,  the 
enemy  of  schism  under  whatever  form.  The  unity  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  upon  earth,  the  fraternization  of  all  man- 
kind gathered  beneath  the  care  of  one  shepherd,  the  pope, 
Christ's  vicar  upon  earth,  was  his  visionary  scheme,  and,  in 
his  enthusiasm,  entirely  overlooking  the  diversity  of  nations 
and  languages,  he  sought  to  obviate  that  difficulty  by  ren- 
dering the  Latin  tongue  the  only  one  authorized  by  the 
church.  This  new  and  unnatural  tyranny  met  with  vehe- 
ment opposition.  Virgilius,  bishop  of  Salzburg,  the  most  en- 
lightened man  of  the  age,  who  had  gained  great  and  merited 
fame  by  the  peaceable  conversion  of  the  Slavi,  in  the  moun- 
tains of  Carinthia  and  Carniola,  and  who  on  account  of  his 
scientific  and  astronomical  knowledge  was  denounced  as  a 


CHARLEMAGNE  259 

sorcerer '  by  the  pope  and  his  confederate,  Bonifacius,  A.D. 
742,  inquired  mockingly  of  the  latter,  "whether  the  senseless 
form  made  use  of  in  baptism  by  a  German  priest  ignorant  of 
the  Latin  tongue,  'Baptizo  te  in  nomine  Patria  et  Filia  et 
Spiritus  Sancti,'  was  efficacious?"  and  was  answered,  "Yes, 
because  faith  ought  to  be  blind!"  In  Thuringia,  Dortwin, 
Berthar,  Tanbrecht,  and  Hunred,  and  in  Bavaria,  Ariowulf, 
Adelbert,  and  Clemens,  distinguished  themselves  hi  opposi- 
tion to  Bonifacius,  who  condemned  them  as  heretics,  and, 
supported  by  Pipin  and  the  pope,  succeeded  in  his  hierarchi- 
cal schemes. 

Bonifacius,  moreover,  zealously  applied  himself  to  the 
conversion  of  the  heathen,  which  was  formally  organized  by 
a  synod,  held  at  Lestines,  A.D.  742,  and  a  form  of  abjuration* 
was  drawn  up,  by  which  the  German  pagan  renounced  his 
former  religion  and  the  specified  superstitious  customs.  He 
went  personally  among  the  heathen,  preaching  and  convert- 
ing with  the  energy  and  zeal  that  rendered  him  so  famous. 
He  it  was  who  cut  down  the  great  Donnereiche  (oak  of  thun- 
der) at  Geismar,  in  Hesse.  Zealously  upholding  the  institu- 
tions of  his  predecessors,  he  sent  fresh  preachers  to  the  flocks 
abandoned  by  their  pastors.  "With  the  intent  of  especially 
promoting  the  conversion  of  the  women,  he  sent  for  pious 
nuns  from  England ;  among  others,  St.  Thecla,  the  foundress 
of  Kitzingen ;  St.  Lioba,  that  of  Bischofsheim ;  and  St.  Wal- 
purgis,  that  of  Heidenheim.  The  bishoprics  of  Wurzburg, 
Freising,  Eichstadt,  Salzburg,  and  Ratisbon,  were  organ- 
ized under  his  direction,  he  being,  as  archbishop  of  Mayence, 
the  head  of  the  German  church.  In  his  seventieth  year,  be- 
ing anxious  to  convert  the  pagans  of  Friesland,  he  visited 
that  country,  where  the  Frisii,  who  viewed  him  as  a  deceit- 
ful Frank,  put  him  to  death,  A.D.  755. 

1  The  fame  of  Virgilius  the  sorcerer  spread  into  Lombardy,  and  at  a  later 
period,  the  Italians,  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  a  bishop  of  Salzburg,  made 
Virgil,  the  Roman  poet,  the  hero  of  the  legend. 

2  Ek  forsacho  diabole  end  allum  diabol  gelde  end  allum  diaboles  werkum  end 
wordum,  Thunaer  ende  "Woden  ende  Saxnote,  end  allum  them  unholdum,  the 
hira  genotas  sint. 


260  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 


CIII.    Charlemagne 

PIPIN  left  two  sons,  Carloman  and  Charles,  the  former 
of  whom  inherited  Neustria,  the  latter  Austrasia.  Charles 
had  already  distinguished  himself  in  the  last  wars  of  Pipin, 
and  the  legends  record  the  most  extraordinary  proofs  of  his 
wonderful  strength  of  mind  and  body  when  still  a  child. 
Pipin,  unwilling  to  allow  the  pope  the  supremacy  in  Italy, 
upheld  the  now  powerless  Lombards,  and  gave  the  daughter 
of  Desiderius  in  marriage  to  Charles,  hi  defiance  of  the  anger 
of  Pope  Stephen,  who  had  said,  "That  the  noble  Frank  should 
not  defile  himself  with  the  unclean  Lombard."  Charles,  not 
finding  Desiderata  to  his  taste,  divorced  her.  His  brother 
Carloman  being  accidentally  killed,  he  seized  Neustria,  and 
Gilberga,  the  widow  of  Carloman,  and  her  two  sons  sought 
refuge  at  the  court  of  Desiderius,  who  was  highly  offended 
at  the  treatment  of  his  daughter.  By  this  act  of  treachery 
to  his  nephews,  Charles  became  in  771  master  of  the  whole 
of  France.  Urged  by  uncontrollable  ambition,  he  burst 
through  every  barrier  that  opposed  his  entrance  into  the 
great  and  brilliant  course  he  was  destined  to  run ;  his  fame, 
like  the  sun  at  early  morn,  obscured  by  rolling  clouds,  shone 
forth  again  with  undimmed  luster.  His  energetic  and  cre- 
ative intellect,  ever  actively  and  simultaneously  employed  in 
conducting  his  wars  abroad  and  in  improving  the  internal 
condition  of  his  empire,  changed,  during  the  forty-three 
years  of  his  reign,  the  aspect  of  affairs,  not  only  throughout 
Germany,  but  throughout  the  whole  of  Europe,  and  laid  the 
foundation,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  course  of  this  history,  to  a 
new  and  important  era.  "With  him  the  history  of  ancient 
Germany  closes.  All  the  ancient  free  German  states  and 
kingdoms  were  united  within  the  limits  of  his  immense  em- 
pire, whose  erection  impressed  a  new  character  on  the  differ- 
ent nations  of  Germany.  Antiquity  sank  into  oblivion,  and 
the  middle  age  commenced  with  the  grand  and  brilliant 
reign  of  Charlemagne,  by  which,  however,  we  must  not 


CHARLEMAGNE  261 

allow  ourselves  to  be  blinded  to  the  fault  he  committed  in 
failing  to  secure  the  national  freedom  as  well  as  the  exter- 
nal grandeur  of  Germany.  True  to  his  father's  policy,  he 
rooted  the  imperial  power  in  the  feudal  system,  and  increased 
the  privileges  of  the  nobility  and  clergy  at  the  expense  of 
those  of  the  people.  His  policy  might  possibly  have  taken 
an  opposite  bias  had  he  met  with  firm  support  from  the  peo- 
ple, but  at  that  period  the  nations  of  Germany  were  still  at 
enmity  with  each  other;  the  Goths,  Lombards,  Alemanni, 
Bavarians,  and  Thuringians,  hated  the  French  as  their  ty- 
rants, and  the  pagan  Saxons  were  struggling,  as  if  for  life, 
against  French  dominion  and  the  imposition  of  Christianity. 
The  unity  of  the  empire  could  therefore  only  be  achieved  in 
despite  of  the  people,  and  Charles  found  his  sole  support 
in  the  vassals,  attracted  by  his  victories  and  largesses,  and 
in  the  bishops  and  monks,  who  by  representing  the  unity  of 
the  empire,  to  the  refractory  nations,  as  a  necessary  conse- 
quence of  the  unity  of  the  church,  and  as  one  of  the  inten- 
tions of  the  Christian  religion,  rendered  themselves  indispen- 
sable. Had  the  people  been  more  advanced  in  knowledge, 
had  they  been  able  to  comprehend  the  idea  of  unity,  Charles 
probably  would  not  have  given  so  great  a  preponderance  to 
the  vassal  lords  and  clergy,  a  preponderance  which  was  only 
too  soon  and  too  severely  felt  by  his  successors  on  the  impe- 
rial throne.  Without  having  recourse  to  violent  measures, 
he  could  never  have  succeeded  in  uniting  the  nations  of  Ger- 
many, in  guaranteeing  the  empire  from  the  attacks  of  its 
foreign  foes,  the  Moors,  Slavi,  Norsemen,  Avari,  and  Hun- 
garians, or  in  extirpating  the  barbarous  customs  of  heathen 
antiquity.  The  different  German  nations,  at  feud  with  one 
another,  partly  pagan,  partly  Christian,  would  in  course  of 
time  have  exterminated  each  other,  while  the  Hungarians, 
aided  by  the  pagan  Saxons,  would  probably  have  renewed 
the  savage  times  of  Attila.  The  unity  of  the  empire  was  a 
boon  required  by  the  exigency  of  the  times,  and  that  by 
means  of  it  Charlemagne  preserved  Christendom  from  the 
encroachments  of  paganism  at  that  time  still  prevailing  in 


263  THE   HISTORY   OF    GERMANY 

the  East,  and  from  those  of  Mohammedanism  equally  power- 
ful in  the  South,  besides  refining  the  barbarous  manners  of 
the  age  by  the  introduction  of  the  arts  of  civilization  and 
of  scholastic  learning,  forms  his  great  and  all- sufficing  ex- 
culpation. The  Anglo-Saxons  in  England  certainly  attained 
to  a  considerable  degree  of  cultivation  without  sacrificing 
their  freedom,  but,  inclosed  within  the  narrow  limits  of  their 
fortunate  island,  they  had  fewer  difficulties  to  encounter  than 
Charles,  who,  placed  in  the  midst  of  the  broad  continent, 
was  surrounded  by  open  enemies  and  doubtful  friends. 

CIV.    Fall  of  the  Kingdom  of  Lombardy 

THE  attempt  made  by  Desiderius  to  force  the  pope  to 
anoint  the  two  sons  of  Carloman  kings  of  France,  served  as 
a  pretext  for  Charles  to  cross  the  Alps  and  to  annex  the 
whole  of  Italy  to  the  empire.  He  accordingly  crossed  by 
Mount  Cenis,  and  his  uncle,  Bernard,  by  Mons  Jovis,  which, 
from  this  circumstance,  received  the  name  of  the  great  St. 
Bernard;  Desiderius,  meanwhile,  closely  guarded  the  Alpine 
passes,  and  checked  the  advance  of  the  invading  army :  at 
length  a  secret  path  that  led  into  Lombardy  was  discovered 
to  Charles  by  a  traitor,  who,  it  is  recorded,  was  permitted, 
in  reward,  to  sound  a  horn,  and  to  each  passer-by  who  re- 
plied in  the  affirmative  to  his  demand  of  whether  he  had 
heard  it,  to  give  a  box  on  the  ear,  in  sign  of  vassalage. 
The  mountain  passes  were  no  sooner  forced  than  opposition 
ceased.  Charlemagne's  presence  insured  victory.  The  com- 
mon herd,  awed  by  the  greatness  of  his  fame,  were  rendered 
powerless,  before  the  contest  commenced,  by  their  belief  in 
his  invincible  prowess,  which  worked  more  wonders  in  favor 
of  his  cause  than  that  prowess  itself.  Tlie  Lombards  trem- 
bled at  the  mere  aspect  of  the  hero,  whose  achievements  lay 
yet  concealed  within  the  bosom  of  futurity.  Numbers  de- 
serted to  the  Franks,  and  Desiderius,  shut  up  in  Pavia,  his 
capital,  was  driven  by  famine  to  capitulate,  after  a  siege  of 
seven  months*  duration.  An  ancient  chronicle  relates  that 


.  CHARLEMAGNE  263 

Desiderius,  when  gazing  from  the  battlements  upon  the 
French  squadrons,  in  expectation  of  perceiving  Charles  as 
each  advanced,  and  at  length  beholding  him  ride  forward 
armed  cap-a-pie,  conspicuous  by  his  stature  amid  the  sur- 
rounding multitude,  and  mounted  on  an  iron-clad  charger, 
was  struck  with  such  amazement  at  his  awful  aspect  that  he 
mournfully  exclaimed  to  those  around  him,  "Let  us  descend 
and  hide  ourselves  beneath  the  earth  from  the  angry  glance 
of  such  a  powerful  enemy, ' '  and  forthwith  yielded  the  city 
to  his  opponent,  who,  judging  him  unworthy  of  a  throne  he 
was  unable  to  defend,  secluded  him  in  the  monastery  of  Cor- 
vey.  His  son,  Adalgis,  a  brave  man  worthy  of  a  better  fate, 
fled  to  Constantinople,  and  Charles  placed  the  ancient  iron 
crown  of  Lombardy  himself  on  his  own  head.  The  people 
were  permitted  to  retain  their  national  privileges.  The  same 
year,  A.D.  774,  he  visited  the  pope  at  Rome,  confirmed  him 
in  the  possession  of  the  gifts  of  Pipin,  received  like  him  the 
title  of  patrician,  and  renewed  the  alliance  that  had  already 
been  formed  by  his  father  with  the  pontifical  chair.  Mean- 
while the  free-spirited  Lombards  revolted  against  the  severe 
yoke  imposed  upon  them,  and  Adalgis,  returning,  made  an- 
other but  fruitless  attempt  to  regain  his  throne,  A.D.  775. 
Paul  "Warnefried  (Paulus  Diaconus),  the  celebrated  historian 
of  Lombardy,  labored  zealously  in  his  cause,  and  having  on 
that  account  been  sentenced  to  lose  his  eyes  and  hands, 
Charles  indignantly  exclaimed,  "Where  shall  we  again  find 
hands  able  to  record  the  events  of  history  so  beautifully  as 
his?"  A.D.  776. 

Two  subsequent  insurrections  in  Lombardy,  A.D.  786,  ex- 
cited by  the  dukes  of  Friuli  and  of  Benevento,  were  succes- 
sively quelled  by  Charles,  who,  although  engaged  in  a  win- 
ter campaign  in  Saxony,  suddenly  quitted  that  country  and 
fell  upon  Radogund,  duke  of  Friuli,  in  the  high  mountains 
at  Tarvis,  where  he  was  celebrating  the  Easter  festival. 
Aregis,  duke  of  Benevento,  Charles's  brother-in-law  (his 
wife,  Amalberga,  being  daughter  to  Desiderius),  was  com- 
pelled to  deliver  up  his  sons  as  hostages.  The  only  article 


2 64  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

in  the  treaty  of  peace  that  he  insisted  upon  was,  "that  he 
should  not  be  forced  to  see  his  hated  relative. ' '  On  his  death 
Charles  sent  his  son,  Grimoald,  back  to  his  native  country, 
and  gave  him  the  dukedom  of  Benevento  to  hold  in  fee. 
Grimoald  opposed  the  Greeks  in  Lower  Italy.  The  empire 
extended  to  the  south  as  far  as  the  island  of  Sardinia,  which 
had  been  conquered  by  Graf  Burkhard.  Pipin,  the  son  of 
Charlemagne,  A.D.  807,  was  compelled  to  relinquish  his  at- 
tempts upon  Venice,  and  the  island  city  proudly  maintained 
her  liberty. 

CV.    The  Saxon  Wars 

IN  earlier  times  the  Romans  had  incessarntly  attempted 
the  subjugation  of  their  free  neighbors,  the  Germans,  by 
whom  their  empire  was  threatened  from  without,  while  it 
was  at  the  same  time  endangered  within  by  the  contrast  be- 
tween their  free  constitution  and  the  despotism  of  the  Roman 
government.  The  Franks,  equally  despotic  with  their  an- 
cient masters,  were  also  ceaseless  in  their  endeavors  to  crush 
the  Saxons,  who  still  retained  their  ancestral  independence, 
and  the  breach  was  still  further  widened  by  the  national 
hatred,  which  from  time  immemorial  had  been  cherished  be- 
tween Frank  and  Saxon,  and  which  in  later  times  had  been 
strengthened  by  difference  of  religion,  the  Frank  in  his  prose- 
lyting zeal  attempting  to  enforce  the  conversion  of  the  Saxon 
to  Christianity,  while  the  Saxon,  who  naturally  regarded  the 
new  religion  as  subversive  of  freedom,  remained  the  more 
obstinately  attached  to  that  of  his  fathers.  Continual  feuds 
had  deluged  the  banks  of  the  Rhine  with  the  blood  of  the 
contending  nations  under  the  Merovingians.  A  short  peace 
took  place  under  Dagobert,  but  the  war  was  kindled  afresh, 
and  its  extinction  baffled  the  most  strenuous  exertions  of 
Bonifacius.  The  physical  strength,  great  endurance,  and 
enthusiastic  valor  of  the  Saxons,  who  were  inspirited  by  the 
love  of  their  liberty,  their  country,  and  their  religion,  aided 
by  the  dissensions  that  convulsed  France,  had  up  to  this 
period  rendered  the  issue  of  their  ancient  struggle  doubtful. 


CHARLEMAGNE  265 

The  Saxons,  although  often  constrained  by  the  warlike  may- 
ors of  the  palace  to  pay  a  dishonorable  tribute,  had  never 
been  more  than  temporarily  subdued.  Affairs  bore  this  as- 
pect on  the  accession  of  Charles,  who  speedily  turned  his 
chief  attention  to  the  subjection  of  his  warlike  neighbors, 
the  first  necessary  step  in  the  furtherance  of  his  plans  for 
the  future  protection  of  France  against  their  aggressions, 
for  the  union  of  all  the  nations  of  Germany,  for  checking 
the  progress  of  the  Slavi  in  the  East,  and  for  the  erection  01 
one  vast  empire  in  the  heart  of  Europe,  whence  civilization 
and  Christianity  were  to  radiate  as  from  one  bright  center, 
and,  calling  the  whole  physical  strength  of  his  kingdom  to 
the  aid  of  his  genius,  undeterred  by  the  obstinacy  with  which, 
he  was  opposed,  by  the  dread  of  obscuring  his  fame  by  the 
commission  of  monstrous  acts  of  cruelty,  by  the  numerous 
wars  in  which  he  was  constantly  engaged,  or  by  his  paternal 
concern  for  the  internal  welfare  of  the  state,  he  was  at  length 
rewarded,  in  his  old  age,  with  success,  after  a  murderous 
and  unremitting  war  of  two  and  thirty  years,  in  which  his 
perseverance,  power,  exalted  genius,  and  noble  aim  cast  into 
shade  the  heroic  fortitude  of  the  Saxons,  who,  worthy  of 
their  ancestral  fame,  valiantly  struggled,  during  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  in  defense  of  their  ancient  liberty  and 
religion,  and  crowned  their  very  fall  with  glory.  Wittekind, 
duke  of  Westphalia,  the  brave  Saxon  leader,  may  not  un- 
felicitously  be  compared  with  Armin.  Animated  by  a  kin- 
dred spirit,  he  fought  on  the  same  ground  for  a  similar  object 
and  with  equal  glory.  His  followers,  inspirited  by  his  enthu- 
siasm, were  ever  ready  for  fresh  revolt,  after  each  bloody 
defeat  and'  each  extorted  treaty;  success  attended  their  at- 
tempts for  freedom  during  the  absence  of  Charles,  whose 
return  ever  reimposed  a  yet  more  galling  chain,  until  at 
length,  humbled  by  the  protracted  struggle,  they  voluntarily 
submitted  and  embraced  Christianity. 


GERMANY.    VOL.  I. — 13 


266  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 


CVI.    The  Progress  of  the  Saxon  Wars 

IN  772,  Charles  convoked  a  general  state  assembly  at 
Worms,  in  which  the  war  with  Saxony  was  unanimously 
voted.  Religion  served  as  a  pretext.  The  urbanity  and 
eloquence  of  St.  Lebuin,  who  had  previously  been  commis- 
sioned to  preach  to  the  Saxons  during  their  great  national 
festival  at  Marklo,  having  proved  ineffectual,  fire  and  sword 
were  the  next  means  resorted  to  for  their  conversion.  This 
decision  had  been  purposely  committed  to  the  nation  by 
Charles,  who  sought,  by  giving  the  war  a  national  and  re- 
ligious character,  to  render  it  popular.  At  the  head  of  the 
great  arrier-ban  of  the  French,  Charles  crossed  the  Rhine 
and  marched  victoriously  as  far  as  the  Weser.  His  greatest 
achievement,  during  this  campaign,  was  the  capture  of  the 
Eresburg,  where  he  destroyed  the  sacred  column  of  Irmin.1 

Charles's  absence  in  Italy,  necessitated  by  the  revolt  of 
Rotgaudus,  the  Lombard  duke  of  Friuli,  whom  he  reduced 
to  obedience,  was  instantly  turned  to  advantage  by  the  Sax- 
ons, who  broke  into  open  insurrection,  headed  by  Wittekind 
of  "Westphalia,  the  soul  of  the  war,  whose  activity  was  emu- 
lated by  that  of  Alboin,  duke  of  Eastphalia,  A.D.  773.  A 
second  invasion  of  Saxony  ensued,  and  the  triple  alliance  of 
the  two  Phalias  and  of  Enger  was  successively  defeated  by 
Charles.  The  coasts  alone  remained  unsubdued.  No  sooner, 
however,  was  his  presence  again  required  in  Italy  by  a  fresh 
revolt  of  the  duke  of  Friuli,  than  Wittekind  recommenced 
the  struggle ;  a  general  levy  took  place,  whole  forests  were 

1  An  old  rhythm  is  still  extant  in  "Westphalia,  which,  by  some,  is  ascribed  to 
the  period  of  this  invasion,  by  others,  to  the  more  ancient  one  of  the  wars  of 
Armin  against  the  Roman  emperors. 

Hermen,  sla  dermen, 

Sla  pipen,  sla  trummen. 

De  kaiser  will  kummen 

Mit  hamer  und  stangen, 

Will  Hermen  uphangen. 

The  Eresburg  occupied  the  present  site  of  Stadtbergen  on  the  Diemel,  in  th« 
district  of  Paderborn. 


CHARLEMAGNE  267 

thrown  down  in  order  to  form  abatis  throughout  the  coun- 
try, and  every  man  stood  to  arms.  Charles  reappeared,  and 
all  again  yielded  before  him.  He  remained  encamped  in  the 
heart  of  the  country  until  a  royal  residence  was  erected  at 
Paderborn,  whither  he  summoned  the  vassals  of  the  crown 
and  the  embassadors  from  foreign  states,  among  whom  ap- 
peared a  number  of  Moorish  princes  from  Spain,  who  had 
thrown  off  their  allegiance  to  their  mother-country,  and  came 
to  implore  the  aid  of  the  mighty  sovereign  of  France.  The 
Saxons  also  sent  delegates  to  Paderborn,  promised  peace  and 
submission,  and  resigned  their  Allods  and  their  freedom  to 
their  conqueror.  Wittekind  alone,  despising  the  favor  of  the 
monarch,  fled  to  Denmark,  where,  protected  by  Siegfried, 
the  pagan  king,  he  awaited  an  opportunity  to  recommence 
the  struggle  for  liberty ;  accordingly,  Charles  had  no  sooner 
led  his  arrier-ban  across  the  Pyrenees  in  order  to  awe  the 
Moors  than  Wittekind  returned,  and  the  Saxons,  forgetful 
of  their  newly-imposed  allegiance,  again  rebelled  and  laid 
the  country  waste  up  to  the  walls  of  Duits  and  Cologne,  A.D. 
778.  Charles  returned,  and  the  following  year  directed  his 
whole  force  against  them.  Two  great  battles  took  place  on 
the  Eller  and  in  the  Buchholz,  in  which  the  Saxons  were 
worsted,  and  Charles,  fixing  himself  in  the  country,  erected 
numerous  fortresses  on  the  Elbe,  in  which  he  placed  strong 
garrisons  of  the  French,  and  endeavored  at  the  same  tune  to 
gain  over  the  people,  more  especially  the  nobility,  by  kind- 
ness, affability,  and  promises.  The  hostages  taken  from  the 
Saxons  during  his  previous  campaigns  had  been  purposely 
educated  in  monasteries,  and,  on  their  return  to  their  native 
country,  they  peaceably  forwarded  the  work  of  conversion. 
Affairs  seemed  to  prosper,  and  Charles  deemed  himself  as 
securely  master  of  Saxony  as  Varus  had  formerly  done  in 
the  same  country  and  under  precisely  similar  circumstances. 
But  he  was  equally  deceived.  Enforced  subjection  ever  pro- 
duces dissimulation,  and  the  Saxon,  still  mindful  of  his  an- 
cient freedom,  beheld  with  secret  rage  the  fortresses  he  had 
been  compelled  to  aid  in  erecting,  and  which  he  merely 


368  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

awaited  an  opportunity  to  destroy.  Taught  hypocrisy  by 
necessity  and  injured  pride,  he  lulled  his  conqueror  to  repose, 
in  order  to  take  a  surer  and  more  deadly  aim.  Whoever 
conscientiously  embraced  Christianity  was  secretly  branded 
as  a  traitor,  and  destruction  to  the  Frank  was  vowed  in  the 
silent  depths  of  the  forest,  in  the  name  of  the  ancient  deities 
of  Germany.  The  form  of  oath  ran  thus : 

Hilli  kroti  "Woudana  ilp  osk  un  osken  Pana  Uitikin  ok 
Kelta  of  ten  oiskena  Karleui  ten  slaktenera.  Ik  tif  ti  in  our 
un  ton  scapa  un  tat  Rofe.  Ik  slacte  ti  all  tranca  up  tinen 
iliken  Artis  beka. 

Charles,  far  from  suspecting  the  true  state  of  affairs, 
again  quitted  Saxony,  and,  with  perfect  confidence,  com- 
missioned his  generals,  Geil  and  Adalgis,  to  strengthen  the 
army  under  their  command  by  an  immense  levy  of  Saxon 
troops  destined  for  the  invasion  of  the  territory  of  the  Slavi 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Elbe  and  Saal,  who  then  threatened 
France.  The  Saxons  obeyed  the  call  with  great  alacrity, 
and  soon  outnumbered  the  French  troops,  who,  in  the  com- 
mencement of  the  campaign,  A.D.  782,  while  carelessly  cross- 
ing the  Sundel  Mountain  on  the  Weser  (Hausberg  between 
Minden  and  Rinteln),  were  unexpectedly  attacked  by  their 
companions,  by  whom  the  slaughter  in  the  Teutoburg  forest 
was  renewed — Geil  and  Adalgis,  with  the  greater  part  of 
their  troops,  being  left  on  the  field. 

When  the  news  of  this  terrible  catastrophe,  by  which  his 
plans  upon  Slavonia  and  Saxony  were  at  once  rendered  null, 
reached  Charles,  he  vowed  to  wreak  a  fearful  revenge  on  the 
rebels,  and  to  regain  by  cruelty  and  severity  the  kingdom  his 
mildness  had  lost.  Crossing  the  Rhine,  he  laid  waste  the 
country  by  fire  and  sword,  and  exterminated  all  who  refused 
to  embrace  Christianity.  Thousands  were  driven  into  the 
rivers  to  be  baptized  or  drowned.  On  the  Eller  at  Verden 
4,500  Saxons,  taken  in  arms,  were  beheaded.  Destruction 
marched  in  the  van.  Desolation,  carnage  and  flames  marked 
the  path  of  the  conqueror.  Undismayed  by  the  danger,  the 
Saxons  rose  to  a  man  in  defense  of  their  national  liberties. 


CHARLEMAGNE  269 

Every  deed  of  cruelty  was  doubly  repaid,  and  victory  began 
to  waver.  At  Detmold,  "Wittekind  headed  the  enthusiastic 
patriots  against  Charles's  superior  forces,  and  a  dreadful 
battle  was  fought,  in  which  the  victory  remained  undecided. 
In  petty  warfare,  the  Saxons  proved  invincible,  and  it  was  not 
until  they  again  hazarded  a  general  engagement  on  the  Hase 
that  Charles's  superior  tactics  prevailed  against  them.  When 
at  length  he  was  once  more  securely  fixed  in  the  interior  of 
the  country,  prudence  counseled  milder  measures,  and  while 
he  still  devastated  the  northern  districts,  his  subjects  in  the 
Binnenland  were  treated  with  a  gentleness  which,  seconded 
by  the  exhaustion  consequent  on  their  numerous  defeats,  at 
length  induced  a  general  submission.  Wittekind  and  Alboin, 
the  stanch  defenders  of  their  country's  rights,  with  implicit 
confidence  in  the  honor  of  their  conqueror,  came  to  Attigny 
in  France,  and  were  there  voluntarily  baptized,  A.D.  785. 
According  to  the  legendary  account,  Wittekind  went,  dis- 
guised as  a  beggar,  into  the  church  at  Wolmirstadt  (so  called 
from  Charles's  once  exclaiming,  "Wohl  mirl"  Good  luck  to 
me !  when  victorious  there  over  the  Saxons),  where  a  shining 
white  child  appeared  to  him  in  the  host,  and  convinced  him 
of  the  truth  of  Christianity. 

CVII.    Termination  of  the  Saxon  Wars 

EVEN  this  peace  proved  but  of  short  duration ;  and  that 
nation  must  be  justly  deemed  worthy  of  admiration  which, 
after  such  experience  in  suffering,  still  retained  sufficient 
courage  and  pride  to  persevere  in  the  struggle  for  the  preser- 
vation of  their  ancient  liberties  and  honor,  and  to  prefer 
misery,  nay,  annihilation,  to  the  stain  of  subserviency. 
Charles,  deeming  the  North  submissive,  turned  his  atten- 
tion southward,  and  while  he  was  engaged  in  forcing  the 
powerful  Avari  to  retreat  into  Hungary,  and  in  preserving 
a  communication  between  the  Adriatic  and  the  Danube,  his 
fertile  genius  conceived  the  project  of  bringing  the  whole  of 
southern  and  northern  Germany  into  yet  more  direct  com- 


270  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

munication,  by  cutting  through  the  country  lying  between 
the  Rednitz,  whose  waters  flow  through  the  Maine  into  the 
Rhine,  and  the  Altmiihl,  which  falls  into  the  Danube.  Had 
this  canal  been  completed,  a  communication  by  water  would 
have  been  opened  throughout  Germany,  which  must  not  only 
have  greatly  facilitated  the  internal  traffic  of  the  different 
provinces,  but  also  have  given  a  powerful  impulse  to  general 
commerce,  by  opening  a  line  of  communication  between  the 
Black  Sea  and  the  Baltic.  A  canal  300  feet  broad  had 
already  been  carried  some  distance,  when  the  work  was  de- 
stroyed by  violent  storms  of  ram,  and  the  war  with  Saxony 
again  breaking  out  caused  it  to  be  entirely  abandoned ;  nor 
was  it  undertaken  again  until  our  times,  a  thousand  years 
later.  The  Saxons,  in  the  hope  of  receiving  support  from 
the  Avari,  suddenly  rose  in  arms  in  every  part  of  the  coun- 
try, but,  hearing  of  Charles's  approach  at  the  head  of  a  for- 
midable army,  and  the  Avari  remaining  quiet,  they  as  sud- 
denly disbanded,  and  Charles,  on  his  arrival,  finding  the 
country  tranquil  and  being  unable  to  discover  the  authors 
of  the  revolt,  contented  himself  with  taking  hostages  from 
them,  and  with  establishing  his  seat  of  government  at  Aix- 
la-Chapelle,  A.D.  794.  For  the  future,  however,  he  kept  a 
vigilant  watch  over  their  movements,  and  caused  the  coun- 
try to  be  continually  patrolled  by  his  troops.  The  Nord- 
Albinger,  northward  of  the  Elbe  (modern  Holstein),  alone 
obstinately  refused  to  submit,  and  incessantly  harassed  the 
troops  sent  to  inspect  the  country.  Many  thousand  Saxons 
were  torn  from  their  homes  and  transplanted  into  Brabant 
and  Flanders  as  well  as  to  Sachsenhausen,  now  a  suburb  of 
Frankfort  on  the  Maine.  The  remainder  still  defended  them- 
selves in  their  fastnesses  on  the  coast,  and  again  roused  the 
anger  of  the  emperor,  by  putting  his  embassadors  to  the 
Danish  court  to  death,  when  passing  through  their  country. 
Anxious  to  insure  their  complete  subjection,  Charles  entered 
into  alliance  with  the  Slavian  Obotrites,  a  Vendian  race, 
at  Mecklenburg,  whose  prince,  Thrasico,  aided  by  the 
Franks,  attacked  the  northern  Saxons,  four  thousand  of 


CHARLEMAGNE  271 

whom  were  slain  at  Suintana,  A.D.  798.  Submission  wag 
now  inevitable,  and  Charles,  in  order  to  confirm  his  con- 
quest, made  use  of  the  nobles,  whose  Wergeld  he  trebled, 
and  whom  he  loaded  with  favors,  against  the  Frilir.gs  and 
Lazzi ;  by  which  means  he  created  an  aristocracy  similar  to 
that  of  the  grand  feudatories  of  France,  which  acted  as  a 
sure  check  upon  the  people.  In  commemoration  of  this  vic- 
tory, a  magnificent  palace  was  erected  at  Paderborn,  A.D. 
799,  whither  flocked  all  the  great  vassals  of  the  crown  and 
many  a  ladye  fayre.  The  beautiful  daughters  of  Charle- 
magne daily  graced  the  chase.  Pope  Leo  came  from  Rome 
to  supplicate  for  aid  against  his  rival  Hadrian  and  the  Anti- 
frank  party.  The  pope  and  the  emperor  embraced  each 
other  near  a  spring  once  sacred  to  a  heathen  deity,  in  the 
sight  of  the  astonished  and  enraged  Saxons.  A  monk  from 
Jerusalem  brought  holy  relics.  The  great  caliph  of  the  East, 
Haroun-al-Raschid,  Charlemagne's  worthy  contemporary, 
whom  dislike  of  the  petty  Moorish  usurpers  of  Spain  had 
rendered  his  ally,  presented  him  with  a  costly  tent,  a  curious 
clock,  fine  cloth  the  produce  of  the  Eastern  loom,  spices,  and 
an  elephant.  Four  years  later,  after  Charles's  coronation  at 
Rome,  he  revisited  Saxony,  and  finally  regulated  the  affairs 
of  that  country  by  the  treaty  of  Selz  (Konigshofen  on  the 
Saal),  A.D.  803,  by  which  he  ratified  the  ancient  laws,  the 
privileges  of  the  nobles,  and  declared  the  Saxons  on  an  equal- 
ity with  the  Franks. 

"Wittekind  was  killed  in  a  border  fray  by  Count  Gerold 
of  Swabia,  A.D.  807,  a  proof  of  the  insincerity  of  the  concili- 
ation. The  murder  might,  possibly,  have  been  politically 
designed,  Charles's  aim  being  to  deprive  Saxony  of  her  tem- 
poral rulers,  and  to  place  her  beneath  the  pastoral  staff  of 
the  church.1 

1  Geroldus  dux  Suevise  percussft  Witekindum  Angrarorum  regem,  cujus 
terram  Carolus  divisit  in  8  episcopates. — Corneri  Chron. 


273  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 


CVIII.    The  Wars  in  Spain 

DISSENSION  was  rife  among  the  Moors  in  Spain.  The  last 
descendant  of  the  caliphs  of  the  house  of  the  Omaijades  fled 
from  Africa  to  that  country,  where  the  Moors  still  adhered 
to  him,  and  there  founded  the  kingdom  of  Cordova.  Some 
of  the  emirs,  however,  who  aimed  at  asserting  their  own 
independence,  refused  their  allegiance,  and,  uniting  with 
Ibnalarabi,  lord  of  Saragossa,  opposed  his  authority  and  im- 
plored the  assistance  of  Charlemagne,  who,  finding  the  op- 
portunity favorable  for  another  display  of  the  superiority  of 
France,  for  annihilating  the  power  of  the  Mahometans  by 
dissolving  their  union,  for  irremeably  averting  the  danger 
with  which  the  empire  might  be  threatened  from  that  quar- 
ter, and  for  extending  the  boundary  of  his  dominions,  speed- 
ily led  his  airier-ban  across  the  Pyrenees,  A.D.  778.  The 
legends  that  refer  to  this  war  are  replete  with  strange  ad- 
venture, and  recount  the  glorious  deeds  of  the  famous  Ro- 
land, who  was  first  in  command  under  Charlemagne.  The 
emperor  had  reinstated  Ibnalarabi  at  Saragossa,  had  erected 
Catalonia,  with  its  metropolis,  Barcelona,  into  a  dukedom 
(that  province  being  included  within  the  French  boundary), 
and  had  received  the  oath  of  fealty  from  Alonzo,  a  petty 
Gothic  king,  who  dwelt  in  the  mountains  of  Galicia  and 
Asturia,  when  the  revolt  in  Saxony  again  required  his  pres- 
ence in  Germany,  and  compelled  him  to  relinquish  his  proj- 
ects upon  Spain.  While  recrossing  the  Pyrenees,  the  Basques, 
faithful  to  their  ancient  enmity  against  the  Franks,  fell  upoij 
his  rear,  and  a  great  slaughter  took  place  in  the  narrow 
mountain  passes  near  Ronceval,  where  Roland  the  Brave 
was  slain;  his  death  was  avenged  by  that  of  Lupus,  the 
Basque  duke,  who  was  executed  by  order  of  Charlemagne. 
Roland  has  been  celebrated  by  the  poets  of  both  olden  and 
modern  times,  and  appears  to  have  been  the  favorite  hero  of 
the  Franks,  who  long  retained  the  custom  of  singing  the 
famous  song  of  Roland,  now  unfortunately  lost,  when  march- 


CHARLEMAGNE  273 

ing  to  battle.     The  so-called  pillars  of  Roland  seen  in  differ- 
ent towns  are  falsely  supposed  to  refer  to  him. 

In  799,  Charlemagne  undertook  a  naval  expedition  against 
the  Moors  and  deprived  them  of  the  Balearic  Islands,  Majorca 
and  Minorca.  He  might  possibly  have  succeeded  in  driving 
them  out  of  Spain,  had  he  not  been  called  away  by  the  affairs 
of  Saxony. 

CIX.    Tliassilo 

THE  ancient  Agilofingian  dynasty  enjoyed  considerable 
eminence,  and  retained  the  ducal  dignity  in  Bavaria  until 
the  reign  of  Thassilo,  who,  cowardly,  false,  and  base,  justly 
incurred  the  contempt  of  his  subjects,  and  caused  the  down- 
fall of  his  house,  by  his  unworthy  conduct.  Although  the 
husband  of  Luitberga,  a  daughter  of  Desiderius,  and,  even 
in  the  time  of  Pipin,  the  avowed  enemy  of  the  Carlovin- 
gians,  he  deserted  the  Lombards  at  the  most  critical  mo- 
ment, and  only  ventured  to  attack  Charles  when  he  had  suf- 
fered defeat  in  Saxony.  After  refusing  to  perform  feudal 
service  in  the  field,  he  declared  himself  independent  and  slew 
the  French  count,  Chrodbert,  who  was  sent  to  oppose  him. 
Charles,  upon  this,  taking  advantage  of  the  first  moment  of 
tranquillity  in  Saxony,  marched  into  Bavaria  and  surrounded 
him  in  the  valley  of  the  Lech.  The  cowardly  duke,  instead 
of  defending  himself  with  spirit,  basely  took  a  false  oath  of 
fealty  to  the  conqueror,  and  expressly  recommended  to  his 
subjects  beforehand,  "while  they  were  swearing  allegiance 
to  think  the  contrary."  Charles  pardoned  his  treachery, 
took  one  of  his  sons  as  a  hostage,  and  permitted  him  to 
retain  the  ducal  throne,  A.D.  787.  The  following  year  he 
plotted  with  the  Avari,  aided  by  whom  he  hoped  to  surprise 
Charles,  but  having  delayed  openly  to  declare  hostilities,  on 
account  of  the  emperor  being  then  at  peace  and  holding  a 
great  diet  at  Ingelheim,  at  which  he  had  the  audacity  to 
appear,  his  plans  were  detected,  and  he  was  tried  in  full 
court  and  condemned  to  death.  The  sentence  was  com- 
muted by  Charles  to  imprisonment  in  a  monastery.  His 


274  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

fate  was  shared  by  his  son,  and  Bavaria  was  subsequently 
governed  by  French  counts,  to  whom  the  Bavarians,  who 
had  not  even  pretended  to  take  part  with  the  ruler  they  de- 
spised, and  who  had  remained  firm  in  their  allegiance  to  the 
emperor,  quietly  submitted. 

CX.   The  Wars  with  the  Slavi 

THE  country  eastward  of  the  Elbe  and  Saal,  abandoned 
by  the  Gothic  tribes,  had  been  repeopled  by  the  Slavi,  one 
of  whose  most  noted  tribes,  the  "Wendi,  took  possession  of 
northern  Germany,  where  they  first  endured  a  severe  strug- 
gle with  the  Saxons,  and  afterward  with  the  Franks.  This 
tribe  comprised  the  Obotrites,  who  lay  generally  to  the  west 
in  Mecklenburg,  and  the  WiM,  who  lay  generally  to  the  east 
on  the  coasts  of  Pomerania.  The  latter  already  possessed 
large  commercial  towns,  one  of  which,  on  the  mouth  of  the 
Oder,  the  wealthy  Wineta,  the  Venice  of  the  North,  was  de- 
stroyed as  early  as  the  eighth  century,  partly  by  the  ravages 
of  the  Norsemen,  partly  by  those  of  the  sea,  and  was  replaced 
by  Julin  (Wollin).  The  sacred  towns  of  Arcona  on  Riigen 
and  Rhetra  on  the  Priegnitz  were  celebrated  among  these 
northern  nations. 

South  of  the  Wendi,  on  the  Saal  and  the  Upper  Elbe, 
dwelt  the  Sorbi,  of  which  the  Daleminzii  were  the  chief 
tribe.  The  name  coincides  with  that  of  the  Serbii,  who 
dwelt  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Bulgarians,  in  the  north  of 
Greece.  Yet  the  Slavi  in  the  Austrian  mountains  were 
known  from  Trient  to  Venice  as  Wendi;  hence  Venice  or 
the  Windian  boundary.  The  names  of  Croatia  and  Ca- 
rinthia  were  merely  provincial.  The  ancient  name  of  the 
Vindelicii  possibly  reappears  in  that  of  these  southern  Wendi, 
in  the  same  manner  that  the  Bohemians  took  their  name  from 
the  ancient  Boii  (Bojenheim),  although  they  are  named  in 
their  own  language  Tschechen.  To  the  rear  of  the  Wendi 
and  the  Sorbi  dwelt  the  Lechen  (Poles),  and  Tschechen  (Bo- 
hemians), two  kindred  tribes.  In  the  eighth  century  Crocus 


CHARLEMAGNE  275 

reigned  in  Bohemia.  His  daughter,  Libussa,  a  prophetess, 
having,  as  the  legends  relate,  to  make  choice  of  a  husband, 
commanded  search  to  be  made  for  a  man  eating  off  an  iron 
table,  and  Przmisl,  a  peasant,  being  found  eating  bread  on 
a  plow,  became  her  husband  and  king  of  Bohemia.  He 
founded  -the  city  of  Prague.  After  Libussa's  death,  her 
maid-servants,  instigated  by  Wlasta,  rebelled,  built  the  city 
of  Die  win  (Magdeburg),  and  put  every  man  who  fell  into 
their  hands  to  death.  After  a  desperate  struggle  they  were 
finally  subdued  by  Przmisl.  This  war  of  the  Bohemian 
maidens  is  detailed  at  greater  length  in  some  of  the  finest 
of  the  ancient  legends.  History  is  silent  on  the  subject,  and 
merely  records  that  the  wars,  commenced  at  an  earlier  period 
against  the  Slavi  who  dwelt  to  the  east  of  Germany,  were 
continued  by  Charlemagne  and  increased  in  animosity  after 
the  subjection  of  Saxony,  which  brought  the  whole  eastern 
frontier  of  the  French  empire  everywhere  in  close  contact 
with  the  confines  of  the  Slavian  territory,  where  the  want 
of  union  among  the  Slavian  tribes  rendered  their  numbers 
powerless  against  the  collective  force  of  the  whole  German 
empire,  wielded  by  a  single  arm. 

The  Saxon  war  for  some  time  delayed  the  execution  of 
the  emperor's  projects  against  the  Slavi,  and  it  was  not  until 
A..D.  789  that  he  invaded  their  territory  and  defeated  the 
Obotrites  and  Wilzi,  who,  being  only  momentarily  intimi- 
dated, did  not  long  remain  in  a  state  of  submission.  Their 
destruction,  however,  was  speedily  caused  by  their  disunion. 
The  Obotrites,  who  lay  nearest  to  the  frontier,  were  disliked 
by  the  other  tribes,  and  Charles,  sensible  of  the  advantages 
offered  by  their  position  for  the  furtherance  of  his  designs, 
entered  into  close  alliance  with  them,  and  loaded  them  with 
favors.  He  also  made  use  of  them  against  Saxony,  and  re- 
warded their  services  with  its  eastern  districts,  the  ancient 
country  of  the  Angli,  now  Mecklenburg.  In  805  and  806, 
he  marched  against  the  Sorbi,  defeated  their  kings,  Samela 
and  Misito,  rendered  them  tributary,  and  laid  the  first  stones 
of  the  towns  of  Halle  and  Magdeburg,  which  latter  place  is 


276  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

supposed  to  have  received  its  name  from  the  circumstance  of 
his  having  there  destroyed  the  images  of  the  goddess  of  love 
and  her  attendant  nymphs.  At  this  period,  he  also  subdued 
the  Bohemians,  on  whom  he  imposed  a  tribute  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  fatted  oxen,  and  the  Poles,  whose  king, 
Lecho,  is  said  to  have  fallen  in  battle. 

CXI.  The  Wars  with  the  Avari 

THE  Avari,  a  wild  Tartar  race,  had  followed  the  Longo- 
bardi,  and  had  settled  in  Hungary  and  Austria  as  far  as  the 
Enns.  They  were  incessantly  at  war  with  the  Slavian  Bo- 
hemians and  with  the  dukes  of  Friuli.  Thassilo,  uniting 
with  them  against  France,  invaded  and  laid  waste  that 
country,  A.D.  789.  In  791,  the  emperor  descended  the  Dan- 
ube with  a  fleet  and  a  powerful  army,  defeated  them, 
drowned  ten  thousand  men  in  the  river,  and  devastated 
their  country  as  far  as  the  Raab.  At  the  same  time,  his 
son,  Pipin,  made  a  successful  inroad  from  Friuli  into  Hun- 
gary. Charlemagne,  not  venturing  to  advance,  now  merely 
sought  to  retain  his  newly-acquired  domain,  and,  true  to  his 
maxim  of  ever  watching  over  a  dubious  possession  in  person, 
besides  anxious  to  impress  the  people  with  awe  by  a  display 
of  his  power  and  magnificence,  held  a  synod  at  Ratisbon, 
A.D.  792,  in  which  he  caused  the  doctrine  of  Felix,  the  Span- 
ish bishop,  to  be  condemned  as  heretical.  Close  upon  the 
frontier  of  Bohemia,  and  not  far  from  that  of  Hungary,  was 
he  thus  pleased  to  show  himself  as  the  defender  of  Christian- 
ity, in  order  to  impose  upon  his  dangerous  enemies  by  the 
united  pomp  of  church  and  state. 

Soon  after  this,  the  war  with  the  Avari  broke  out  anew. 
Dissensions  arose  between  their  princes  or  khans.  Tudun, 
one  of  their  number,  visited  Charlemagne  at  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
and  there  received  baptism.  The  rest  bade  him  defiance,  but 
were,  in  the  midst  of  their  broils,  attacked  by  young  Pipin 
and  by  Erich,  the  brave  duke  of  Friuli,  assisted  by  the  Slavi. 
In  Hungary,  the  Avari  had  erected  circular  fortifications, 


CHARLEMAGNE 

one  within  the  other,  which  they  deemed  impregnable,  but 
which  after  a  long  and  indecisive  struggle  were,  at  length, 
carried  by  storm  by  Duke  Erich,  A.D.  796.  The  enormous 
booty  found  by  the  Franks,  heaped  up  within  them,  was  car- 
ried to  Aix-la-Chapelle  by  order  of  Charlemagne,  who  pre- 
sented a  moiety  of  it  to  the  pope.  In  this  war,  Graf  Gerold 
and  his  Swabians  distinguished  themselves  so  greatly  as  to 
gain  from  the  emperor  the  honorable  distinction  of  march- 
ing first  in  order  in  every  war  for  the  future  undertaken  by 
the  state.  Among  these  Swabians  was  a  man  from  Thur- 
gau,  who  spitted  seven  Avari  at  once  on  his  enormous  lance, 
and  who,  on  account  of  his  gigantic  strength,  was  named 
Einheer,  one  of  the  Einherier  or  companions  of  Odin  in  Wal- 
halla,  according  to  the  yet  unforgotten  pagan  belief.  The 
Avari,  however,  remained  still  unsubdued,  and  vigorously 
carried  on  the  war.  Tudun  deserted  the  imperial  cause. 
Gerold  was  killed  in  battle,  and  Tudun  was  captured  and 
put  to  death.  At  length,  weakened  by  continual  disaster, 
the  Avari  submitted,  A.D.  799,  some  of  them  to  the  Germans, 
the  rest  to  their  neighbors  the  Slavi. 

Had  Charlemagne  been  less  continually  occupied  with 
Saxony,  he  would  have  extended  his  dominions  by  the  con- 
quest of  the  Avari  beyond  the  Raab,  and  might  possibly 
have  reached  Constantinople.  A  communication  between 
the  West  and  the  East,  by  the  already-mentioned  union  of 
the  Maine  with  the  Danube,  might  then  have  been  carried 
mto  execution.  For  the  present,  he  contented  himself  with 
making  Croat*  a,  the  country  recently  torn  from  the  Slavi, 
the  eastern  boundary  of  the  empire,  and  with  settling  several 
Swabian  and  Bavarian  colonies  in  modern  Austria,  whence 
the  name,  Bavarian  frontier,  or  Astarrichi.  The  inhabitants 
of  these  boundaries  were  in  an  extremely  peculiar  position  in 
regard  to  each  other;  the  Slavi  had  long  found  themselves 
perplexed  between  Avari  and  Bavarians,  heathens  and  Chris- 
tians ;  at  length  the  nobles  sided  with  the  former,  and  the 
people  with  the  latter ;  the  war  carried  on  with  their  enemies 
abroad  was  consequently  accompanied  by  revolutions  at 


278  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

home.  The  peaceful  conversion  of  the  Slavian  peasantry 
was  at  first  due  to  the  humane  exertions  of  Virgilius,  bishop 
of  Salzburg,  in  the  eighth  century.  Graf  Gerold,  already 
mentioned  as  one  of  the  ablest  servants  of  Charlemagne, 
afterward  undertook  the  regulation  of  these  mountainous 
districts,  aided  the  peasants  in  exterminating  the  pagan 
nobility,  granted  them  great  privileges,  and  planted  fresh 
German  colonies  among  them.  Only  one,  probably  a  Gothic 
tribe,  the  Gotscheer,  had  preserved  its  independence  among 
the  Slavi,  in  the  mountains  of  Croatia. 

The  celebrated  ceremony  which  attended  the  election  of 
the  duke  in  Carinthia,  and  was  observed  for  centuries,  dates 
from  this  period.  The  Furstenstein,  or  prince's  stone,  is  still 
to  be  seen  at  Karnburg  near  Clagenfurt.  A  peasant,  seat- 
ing himself  upon  this  stone,  commanded  the  newly-elected 
duke  to  be  brought  before  him:  "Who  is  he  that  so  proudly 
prances  along?"  asked  the  peasant,  and  the  people  shouted 
in  reply,  "Our  country's  prince."  "Is  he  also  a  righteous 
judge,  an  increaser  of  the  land,  a  defender  of  Christianity, 
of  widows,  and  orphans?"  again  asked  the  peasant,  and  the 
people  replied,  "He  is  and  will  be!"  The  peasant  then  bade 
the  duke  assume  his  dignity,  and  giving  him  a  box  on  the 
ear  yielded  his  seat  to  him.  This  privilege  was  obtained  by 
the  peasantry,  when  they  first  embraced  Christianity,  and, 
after  driving  away  their  own  nobility,  accepted  German 
rulers. 

CXII.    The  Wars  with  the  Norsemen 

NORSEMEN,  or  men  of  the  North,  was  the  general  term 
for  all  Scandinavians  who  quitted  their  native  country  to 
seek  for  adventure,  or  to  plunder  by  sea  or  by  land.  In  an- 
cient times  all  the  German  nations  had  migrated  for  these 
purposes.  Christianity  put  an  end  to  the  migrations  in  the 
South,  and  the  Scandinavians,  the  last  of  the  pagan  German 
tribes,  alone  retained  this  ancient  custom.  Until  now,  Sax- 
ony had  proved  a  sufficient  bulwark  against  the  Norsemen, 
but  that  country  was  no  sooner  conquered  by  Charlemagne 


CHARLEMAGNE  279 

than  the  robbers  and  warriors  of  the  North  threatened  France 
herself.  The  Danes,  the  allies  of  the  Saxons,  afforded  Wit- 
tekind  both  shelter  and  support.  Their  king,  Gottfried,  at- 
tacked the  Obotrites,  and  was,  with  difficulty,  repulsed  by 
the  Franks.  As  a  security  against  invasion,  he  separated  the 
Danish  peninsula  from  Germany  by  a  great  wall  and  moat, 
called  the  Danewirk,  that  had  only  one  outlet.  In  810,  he 
sailed  with  200  ships  to  Friesland,  where  he  landed  and 
threatened  Aix-la-Chapelle,  the  capital  of  the  empire.  The 
airier-ban  was  instantly  summoned,  and  the  emperor  took 
the  field  against  the  invading  horde,  but  learning,  on  his 
march,  that  they  had  slain  their  king  for  his  arrogance  and 
tyranny,  and  had  retreated  to  Denmark,  he  concluded  peace 
with  Hemming,  Gottfried's  successor,  and  made  the  Eyder 
the  northern  boundary  of  the  empire.  Graf  Odo,  in  Itzehoe 
or  Hamburg,  and  the  "Waldgraf  Liderich,  in  Flanders, 
guarded  the  northern  coasts,  but  Charlemagne,  being  un- 
possessed of  a  fleet,  was  unable  to  keep  the  bold  Norsemen 
in  check  at  sea — probably  from  his  unwillingness  to  trust  the 
Saxons  with  so  much  power — and  these  northern  pirates  even 
infested  the  Mediterranean.  The  sight  of  their  vessels,  as 
they  crossed  on  the  ocean,  is  said  to  have  drawn  tears  from 
the  eyes  of  this  great  emperor,  as  he  sat  watching  their 
movements  from  his  castle  at  Narbonne,  in  the  south  of 
France,  and  foretold  their  future  devastation  of  his  empire. 

CXIII.    Charlemagne  the  First  of  the  German  Gcesars 

SUCH  were  the  warlike  achievements  of  the  greatest  of 
the  Frankish  monarchs,  whose  empire  extended  from  the 
Ebro  to  the  Raab,  from  Benevento  to  the  Eyder.  Every 
German  race,  except  the  English  and  the  Scandinavians, 
were,  for  the  first  time,  united  under  one  sovereign ;  all  the 
western  Romans,  with  part  of  the  Slavi  and  Avari,  owned 
the  same  allegiance.  The  discordant  component  parts  of 
this  gigantic  empire,  held  together  by  a  social  compact 
whose  strength  was  doubled  by  the  pressure  from  without, 


280  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

were  scarcely  influenced  by  the  distinction  that  certainly  still 
existed  between  the  Romans  and  the  Germans,  the  conquered 
and  the  conqueror,  the  adherents  of  royalty  and  the  advo- 
cates for  the  ancient  democracy.  The  exclusive  sway  of  the 
Catholic  religion,  now  that  of  the  state,  the  enthusiasm  of  its 
votaries,  its  spiritual  power,  its  character,  well  adapted  to 
impress  the  minds  of  the  illiterate,  and  its  well-regulated 
papal  government,  all  tended  to  promote  concord,  while  the 
danger  with  which  Mohammedanism  threatened  Christen- 
dom from  the  South,  united  Romans  and  Germans  in  one 
common  cause,  nay,  even  caused  the  ancient  hereditary 
feuds  among  the  latter  to  be  forgotten  amid  the  general  en- 
thusiasm, which  rendered  them  equally  zealous,  whether 
arrayed  in  opposition  to  the  Grecian  empire  or  to  the  pagan 
Slavi  and  Norsemen.  England,  naturally  and  politically  in- 
sulated, alone  stood  aloof,  but  manifested  her  sympathy  by 
sending  forth  her  missionaries  to  aid  in  the  work  of  conver- 
sion carried  on  by  the  Franks  in  the  East. 

The  distinctive  peculiarities  of  the  different  tribes  of  Ger- 
many, who  were  thus  suddenly  and  for  the  first  time  united, 
became  gradually  and  naturally  less  prominent,  while  a  sim- 
ilarity in  their  national  characters  began  to  develop.  Their 
common  hatred  of  the  Moors,  the  Greeks,  and  the  Slavi, 
added  another  link  to  their  bond  of  union.  A  state  exclu- 
sively German  was  also  by  no  means  the  idea  of  the  times, 
the  Romans  having  kept  pace  with  the  Germans,  and  the 
church,  far  from  being  satisfied  to  rule  within  the  narrow 
limits  of  a  German  empire,  aspired  to  universal  dominion ; 
still  it  must  be  conceded  that  the  spirit  of  fraternization  that 
at  this  period  prevailed  throughout  Germany,  chiefly  con- 
duced to  the  internal  harmony  of  the  state,  the  extension  of 
whose  limits,  the  wars  and  conquests,  naturally  recalled  the 
ancient  Roman  empire  to  remembrance,  whose  still  unforgot- 
ten  splendor  kindled  anew  a  desire  for  pomp  and  pageantry, 
and  swelled  alike  the  heart  of  the  ruler  and  the  subject  with 
the  proud  consciousness  of  power.  The  resemblance  of  the 
new  empire  with  that  which  had  passed  away,  and  the  an- 


CHARLEMAGNE  281 

cient  reverence  attached  to  the  name  of  Rome,  facilitated 
their  connection,  and  the  new  empire  received  the  name  of 
Roman.  This  combination  of  circumstances  produced  the 
idea  of  an  empire  whose  temporal  power  and  mode  of  forma- 
tion should  be  a  vivid  image  of  that  of  ancient  Rome,  and 
whose  spiritual  power  should  extend  over  the  whole  world, 
and  fraternize  all  nations,  by  uniting  them  in  one  faith  and 
under  one  sovereign.  Thus  originated  the  Holy  Roman  Em- 
pire, which  contained  within  itself  two  separate  powers,  the 
church  and  the  state,  each  of  which  owned  a  visible  head, 
the  representative  of  God  upon  earth;  the  spiritual  head  be- 
ing the  pope,  and  the  temporal  head  the  emperor.  "God," 
it  was  said,  "had  given  two  swords  wherewith  to  govern  the 
world,  the  one  to  the  pope,  the  other  to  the  emperor."  The 
spirit  of  the  times  favored  this  transformation  in  the  affairs 
of  Europe.  Charlemagne  was  in  fact  but  the  outward  and 
visible  instrument  destined  to  carry  into  effect  the  gradual 
and  hidden  work  of  centuries.  His  greatness  solely  consisted 
in  his  having  comprehended  and  acted  up  to  the  spirit  of  the 
times,  by  forcibly  producing  a  union  whence  sprang  a  new 
spirit,  a  new  life,  to  which  he  gave  free  scope.  For  the  sake 
of  unity,  he  certainly  sacrificed  the  ancient  liberties  of  the 
people,  which,  until  his  time,  had  been  upheld  by  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  several  petty  tribes  and  states.  He  gave 
them  unity,  but  deprived  them  of  freedom;  but  Germany 
was  not  then  fitted  for  the  simultaneous  enjoyment  of  these 
two  great  advantages. 

Charlemagne,  while  engaged  in  these  bloody  wars,  pre- 
served a  strict  friendship  with  the  pope,  Hadrian,  whom  he 
supported  in  his  measures  for  the  government  of  the  church, 
and  who,  in  return,  assisted  his  schemes  by  converting  the 
heathen,  and  by  placing  his  wild  followers  under  spiritual 
subjection.  When  the  threats  of  the  sovereign  were  dis- 
regarded, the  eloquence  of  the  churchman  often  prevailed 
Hadrian  di  d,  and  his  relatives,  conspiring  against  his 
successor,  Leo  the  Third,  ill-treated  him  in  a  tumult, 
upon  which  he  fled  to  Paderborn  to  sue  the  emperor  for 


282  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

aid,  A.D.  799.  The  restoration  of  the  Roman  empire  was 
there  concerted  between  them,  and,  in  the  ensuing  year, 
Charlemagne  appeared  with  a  numerous  retinue  in  Rome, 
where,  on  Christmas  eve,  the  crown,  which  for  one  thousand 
and  six  years  after  represented  the  union  and  supremacy  of 
Germany,  was  placed  upon  his  head  by  the  pope,  while  the 
assembled  multitude  shouted,  "Charles  Augustus,  crowned 
by  God,  great  and  pacific  Caesar!  Life  and  victory  to  the 
Roman  emperor!"  A.D.  800. 

Charlemagne's  ambition  soared  still  higher.  In  the  hope 
of  gaining  possession  of  the  imperial  throne  of  Greece,  he 
sent  the  bishops,  Hatto  of  Basle  and  Hugo  of  Tours,  to  Con- 
stantinople, to  sue  for  the  hand  of  Irene,  the  empress  widow, 
who,  meanwhile,  was  deprived  of  the  throne  by  Nicephorus. 
This  usurper,  enraged  at  the  ill-timed  embassy,  ill-treated 
the  bishops,  a  disgrace  that  was  repaid  by  the  contempt  with 
which  his  embassadors  were  treated  at  Selz,  where  Charle- 
magne finally  concluded  peace  with  Saxony;  at  least  so  says 
the  loquacious  monk  of  St.  Gall. 

CXIV.    The  Empire  under  Charlemagne 

THE  feudal  system,  which  was  first  planned  by  Chlodwig, 
who  raised  the  armed  adherents,  immediately  attached  to  his 
person,  above  the  freeborn  Franks,  was  perfected  by  Charle- 
magne, whose  whole  power  rested  upon  it.  The  authority 
of  the  mayors  of  the  palace  of  the  Carlovingian  dynasty  was 
founded  on  the  favor  of  the  vassals,  and  their  policy  chiefly 
consisted  in  converting  freehold  property  into  fiefs  and  in 
rendering  the  fiefs  heritable.  The  feudal  system  had  by  this 
means  already  become  so  general  as  materially  to  lessen  the 
numbers  and  weaken  the  influence  of  the  Frilings,  and 
Charlemagne  was  consequently  enabled  without  difficulty 
to  bring  it  to  full  maturity,  and,  after  his  coronation  as  em- 
peror, ta  exact  from  every  subject  within  his  empire,  without 
distinction,  an  oath  of  allegiance,  similar  to  that  by  which 
the  vassal  (homo,  Lent,  vasall,  servitor)  bound  himself  to 


CHARLEMAGNE  283 

his  lord.  By  this  step,  he  declared  himself  universal  sover- 
eign, whom  every  vassal  of  the  empire  was  bound  to  serve 
in  person,  and  also  possessor  of  the  land  and  universal  liege. 
Whoever  still  remained  free  and  retained  possession  of  an 
Allod  was  at  least  bound  to  appertain,  both  person  and  prop- 
erty, to  the  empire,  to  be  subject  to  the  supremacy  of  the 
emperor  and  to  the  authority  of  the  counts  (Graf en),  whose 
election  now  rested  with  the  crown  instead  of  with  the  peo- 
ple, and  who  were  now  exclusively  termed  comites,  or  royal 
followers.  The  Frilings  became  Frilings  of  the  empire,  over 
whom  the  protection  of  the  emperor  was  as  compulsory  as 
his  feudal  right  over  his  vassal.  The  treatment  these  Fri- 
lings received  was,  however,  such  as  to  lead  them  to  prefer 
feudality  to  freedom;  they  were,  in  fact,  so  arbitrarily  op- 
pressed by  the  Grafs,  and  the  already  powerful  vassals  of  the 
crown,  that  Louis  the  Pious,  Charlemagne's  successor,  vis- 
ited the  different  parts  of  his  empire  for  the  especial  purpose 
of  checking  this  injustice,  but  in  vain.  Many  of  the  Fri- 
lings were  compelled  to  convert  their  Allods  into  fiefs,  while 
others  did  so  voluntarily,  in  order  to  free  themselves  from 
the  arrier-ban,  in  which  they  were  obliged  to  serve  as  long 
as  they  retained  their  freedom.  According  to  the  old  cus- 
tom, the  Frilings  were  forced  to  join  the  arrier-ban  whenever 
war  broke  out,  and  as  Charlemagne  was  perpetually  in  the 
field,  those  who  remained  at  the  conclusion  of  the  war  were 
ruined  by  the  neglect  into  which  their  property  had  fallen, 
while  the  vassals  in  the  personal  service  of  some  great  lord, 
or  in  that  of  the  church,  were  either  not  summoned,  or  were 
indemnified  for  their  service  by  their  spiritual  or  temporal 
lieges;  such  oppressive  freedom  was  naturally  often  gladly 
exchanged  for  the  more  agreeable  species  of  servitude.  Still, 
in  the  interior  of  Germany,  many  of  the  Frilings  proudly 
maintained  their  independence,  and  in  Saxony  and  among 
the  Alemanni  there  were  whole  districts  or  tithings  of  free 
peasants  of  the  empire.  These  Frilings  refused  to  serve  in 
the  field  under  the  customary  Graf,  on  account  of  his  ever 
attempting  to  usurp  feudal  power  in  his  district,  and  de- 


284  THE  HISTORY  OF  GERMANY 

manded  a  Sendgraf,  a  Graf  specially  commissioned  on  ex- 
traordinary occasions  for  a  short  period,  immediately  from 
the  emperor.  Partly  in  order  to  replace  the  deficiency  in  the 
arrier-ban,  and  partly  to  provide  for  the  better  security  of 
his  person  by  the  formation  of  a  body-guard,  Charlemagne 
raised  the  Scaren,  so  called  from  Schaaren,  troops,  bands  of 
mercenaries,  paid  from  his  private  revenues,  and  clothed  in 
red,  whence  the  word  "scarlet'* — Schar,  a  troop,  and  Lack 
or  Laken,  cloth. 

The  new  method  of  administering  justice  was  an  addi- 
tional fetter  upon  ancient  popular  freedom.  The  Germans 
were  no  longer  permitted  to  appear  armed  before  the  tribu- 
nal ;  and  the  judiciary  power,  formerly  exercised  by  the  as- 
sembled community,  now  rested  solely  with  the  Grafs  elected 
by  the  crown.  The  numerous  new  laws,  or  Capitularies  of 
Charlemagne,  compiled  in  Latin,  being,  independent  of  the 
unknown  language  in  which  they  were  written,  of  too  cir- 
cumstantial a  nature  for  the  people  to  be  able  to  retain  them, 
like  their  ancient  laws,  in  their  memories,  rendered  necessary 
the  formation,  in  each  community,  of  a  species  of  guild,  com- 
posed of  men  who  had  made  the  law  their  chief  study,  and 
who,  under  the  title  of  aldermen  (scabini),  were  always 
present,  and  sat  next  to  the  Graf,  during  the  administration 
of  justice.  Charlemagne  had  permitted  the  Franks,  Goths, 
Longobardi,  Burgundians,  Alemanni,  Thuringians,  Bava- 
rians, Saxons,  and  Frisii,  to  retain  part  of  their  national 
laws,  after  expunging  those  that  referred  to  their  ancient 
liberties,  and  adding  new  feudal  and  ecclesiastical  ordon- 
nances,  which  also  contained  the  separate  contracts,  dona- 
tions, and  privileges  of  each  bishopric,  monastery,  and  tem- 
poral fief,  and  thereby  produced  a  mass  and  a  perplexing 
variety  of  laws,  which  being  too  intricate  for  the  compre- 
hensions of  the  commonalty,  consequently  caused  their  total 
exclusion  from  the  administration  of  justice.  Popular  free- 
dom, nevertheless,  received  its  death-blow  from  Catholicism, 
more  especially  in  the  interior  of  Germany,  where  the  new 
religion  had  taken  firm  root  before  the  introduction  of  the 


CHARLEMAGNE  285 

feudal  system,  which  the  Frankish  lords  did  not  venture  to 
enforce  among  the  Swabians  and  Saxons,  among  whom 
monasteries  and  bishoprics  had  met  with  an  easy  reception. 
Never  did  the  Germans  voluntarily  bend  the  knee  to  any  save 
to  their  God,  in  their  zeal  for  whose  service  they  bound  them- 
selves as  vassals  to,  and  held  their  lands  in  fief  from,  the 
church;  ere  long,  richly-endowed  houses  of  God  inthralled 
the  free  community,  and  even  the  Frilings,  who  refused 
vassalage  to  the  church,  were  by  law  compelled,  under  pain 
of  death,  to  pay  tithes. 

The  ancient  liberties  of  the  people  and  the  insolence  of 
the  nobles,  who  like  Thassilo  aspired  to  independence,  were 
equally  suppressed  by  Charlemagne,  who,  putting  an  end  to 
the  dukedoms,  governed  the  empire  by  means  of  Grafs,  who, 
being  less  powerful,  less  endangered  its  unity,  and  by  Send- 
grafs  (missi  dominici),  traveling  envoys,  who  were  charged 
with  the  inspection  of  the  provinces.  Foreseeing  that  the 
assemblies  of  the  nobles  might  frustrate  his  projects,  he  sep- 
arated that  body,  by  holding  especial  ecclesiastical  synods 
and  special  assemblies  of  the  vassals  (Hoflager — placita), 
by  which  aristocratic  two-chamber  system  the  third  class  or 
commoners  were  totally  excluded  from  any  share  in  the  gov- 
ernment, and  it  was  only  at  the  Field  of  May,  or  great  orig- 
inal assembly  of  the  states,  that  the  Frilings  were  admitted, 
when  their  votes  merely  confirmed  decisions  already  deter- 
mined upon.  He  also  took  the  precautionary  measure  of 
holding  any  extraordinary  meeting  of  the  bishops  and  vas- 
sals at  different  places  and  seasons,  by  which  means  he  was 
apparently  ever  present,  and  hindered  conspiracies  being  laid 
in  unguarded  parts  of  the  country.  His  Capitularies  fre- 
quently mention  the  conjurations,  conspiracies,  or  fraterni- 
ties, and  their  severe  punishment;  among  them,  the  secret 
confederacies  of  the  Saxons  are  most  particularly  pointed 
out,  whose  prevention,  requiring  his  presence  in  the  country 
or  in  its  vicinity,  caused  him  generally  to  convoke  thither 
the  assemblies  of  the  vassals. 


286  THE   HISTORY    OF    GERMAN? 


CXV.    The  Church  under  Charlemagne 

CHAKLEMAGNE,  habituated  to  command,  was  no  less  ab- 
solute in  ecclesiastical  than  in  temporal  matters,  and  never 
again  has  the  church,  since  her  assumption  of  authority, 
been  so  completely  under  the  control  of  a  temporal  sover- 
eign. In  order  to  guard  equally  against  the  convocation  of 
general  ecclesiastical  assemblies  independent  of  the  laity, 
and  the  union  of  the  clergy  and  the  people  against  the 
crown,  he  presided  as  a  layman  at  all  ecclesiastical  meet- 
ings, which  he  convoked  separately  from  the  Fields  of  May 
and  the  Placita.  He  consequently  arbitrarily  governed  their 
decisions,  in  which  the  voice  of  the  people  was  necessarily 
unheard.  In  the  ecclesiastical  assemblies,  held  in  792,  at 
Ratisbon,  in  794,  at  Frankfurt,  and  in  815,  at  Mayence,  he 
laid  down  new  regulations  for  the  internal  management  of 
the  church.  His  word  was  law.  Pope  and  clergy  bent 
submissively  before  him,  and  his  rules  of  moral  discipline 
were  strictly  enforced  among  the  monks  and  secular  priests. 
As  a  check  upon  the  disorder  introduced  by  Charles  Martell, 
and  left  unremedied  by  Bonifacius,  he  forbade  the  clergy  to 
carry,  arms,  to  keep  falcons,  dogs,  or  fools,  but,  aware  of 
their  invincible  predilection  for  the  chase,  permitted  them  to 
retain  this  amusement  on  condition  of  their  converting  the 
skins  of  the  animals  they  killed  into  binding  for  books,  which 
he  hoped  by  these  means  to  render  more  general.  Modera- 
tion, decency,  and  gravity  of  demeanor  were  enjoined  upon 
all  priests,  and  the  monks  were  obliged  to  find  employment 
in  the  fields  and  schools.  He  also  interfered  in  doctrinal 
matters.  It  was  not  the  pope,  but  the  emperor,  who  con- 
demned Bishop  Felix  and  his  sect  of  Adoptians,  A.D.  792, 
who  simply  confessed  the  existence  of  two  natures  in  the 
Godhead,  and  regarded  Christ  as  a  man  adopted  by  God  as 
his  son.  It  was  the  emperor  who,  hi  opposition  to  the  pope, 
condemned  the  worship  of  images  and  pictures,  A.D.  794, 


CHARLEMAGNE  287 

and  interdicted,  throughout  his  empire,  the  adoration  of  the 
saints. 

The  interest  of  the  church,  moreover,  induced  her  to  sub- 
mit to  the  decisions  of  the  crown.  Charlemagne,  although 
in  name  merely  a  layman,  acting  in  reality  as  if  he  were 
himself  pope,  and  only  intent  upon  her  welfare,  immeasur- 
ably added  to  the  power  of  that  dignitary  and  to  her  unity. 
The  dangerous  influence  of  the  Lombards  was  forever  de- 
stroyed ;  the  donations  of  Pipin  were  confirmed,  and  secured 
to  the  pope  by  the  power  of  the  empire,  while  the  esteem  in 
which  he  was  held  by  the  emperor,  the  closeness  of  their 
alliance,  his  influence  over  the  numerous  clergy  spread 
throughout  the  empire,  and  the  recognition  of  his  sanctity, 
which  empowered  him  to  bestow  the  crown  and  a  new  title, 
in  the  name  of  God,  on  the  emperor,  at  once  raised  him  next 
in  rank  to  that  sovereign,  to  whose  temporal  power  his 
spiritual  power  alone  ceded,  nay,  his  authority  ere  long  rose 
so  high,  as,  during  succeeding  centuries,  to  render  it  ques- 
tionable whether  precedence  was  not  his  due.  Charlemagne 
also  widely  extended  the  influence  of  the  church,  by  the  con- 
version of  several  million  heathen  to  Christianity,  and  by 
the  erection  of  powerful  bishoprics  in  the  interior  of  Ger- 
many ;  among  others,  that  of  Paderborn,  one  of  his  favorite 
places  of  residence,  and  Bremen,  distinguished  as  the  out- 
post by  which  Christendom  was  guarded  against  the  pagan 
North. 

The  jealousy  that  existed  between  the  conquered  Saxons, 
Thuringians,  Hessians,  Bavarians,  and  Swabians,  and,  in 
fact,  between  all  the  Germans  and  the  Franks,  cautioned 
Charlemagne  against  placing  Frankish  Grafs  over  these 
provinces,  and  he,  accordingly,  set  over  them  bishops,  whose 
spiritual  and  apparently  gentle  rule  bound  them  in  fetters 
stronger  than  those  imposed  by  force.  Upon  these  spiritual 
lords  he  conferred  the  greatest  possible  temporal  preroga- 
tives and  power,  in  order  to  render  their  authority  equal  to 
that  of  the  Grafs,  and  to  enable  them  to  act  as  a  check  upon 
the  native  Grafs,  whose  allegiance  appeared  doubtful.  Penal 


288  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

judicature,  the  power  of  life  or  death  within  their  dioceses, 
was,  for  these  reasons,  one  of  their  prerogatives ;  it  was  even 
exercised  by  abbots,  as,  for  instance,  those  of  Fulda  and  St. 
Gall,  who  thus  united  in  their  persons  not  only  the  authority 
of  the  ancient  judges  of  peace,  but,  in  their  capacity  of  feud- 
atory lords  over  their  armed  vassals,  that  of  the  ancient 
dukes.  These  measures,  calculated  to  meet  the  exigency  of 
the  times,  at  a  later  period  greatly  endangered  the  empire,  by 
giving  a  preponderance  of  wealth,  prerogative  and  power  to 
the  church. 

Alcuin,  an  Anglo-Saxon  monk,  Charlemagne's  spiritual 
guide,  a  man  of  comprehensive  intellect  and  deep  learning, 
was  his  agent  in  the  most  important  ecclesiastical  affairs, 
and  particularly  in  the  management  of  the  academies,  whose 
foundation  gave  a  fresh  impulse  to  German  civilization. 

CXYI.    The  State  of  Learning  under  Charlemagne 

THE  academies  founded  beneath  the  despotic  rule  of 
Charlemagne  in  aid  of  the  church  were  the  means  of  rais- 
ing Germany  from  her  ancient  barbarous  state.  A  kind  of 
academy,  composed  of  the  most  learned  and  talented  men 
of  the  age,  was  established  at  the  imperial  court;  among  the 
number  were:  Alcuin,  the  Anglo-Saxon,  whose  numerous 
letters  and  other  writings  are  still  extant;  Paul  "Warnefried, 
the  celebrated  historian  of  Lombardy;  Angilbert,  Peter  of 
Pisa,  Paulinus  of  Aquileia,  Theodolfus,  the  pious  bishop 
Turpin,  and  young  Eginhart,  the  two  biographers  of  Charle- 
magne, Riculf,  Theodulf,  Adelhard,  "Wala,  Wigo,  Arno, 
Sigulf,  Fredegis,  and  Richbod.  Alcuin  generally  resided  at 
Tours,  where  he  founded  a  classical  academy,  which  pro- 
duced most  of  the  above-mentioned  scholars,  and,  at  a  later 
period,  many  more.  The  society  of  these  men  was  the  fa- 
vorite relaxation  of  the  emperor,  whenever  a  pause  occurred 
in  war.  Each  branch  of  science  became,  in  turn,  the  theme 
of  conversation ;  etiquette  was  thrown  aside,  and  each  of  the 
academicians  was  distinguished  by  a  name  taken  from  the 


CHARLEMAGNE  289 

Bible  or  from  the  Greek  and  Roman  classics,  which  at  that 
time  were  carefully  collected  and  diligently  studied.  Char- 
lemagne was  named  King  David;  Wala,  Jeremiah;  Frede- 
gis,  Nathaniel;  Alcuin,  Horace;  Angilbert,  Homer;  The- 
odulf,  Pindar;  Eginhart,  Calliopius,  etc.  Refinement  and 
learning  long  distinguished  the  family  of  the  emperor,  one 
of  whose  grandsons,  Nithard,  became  celebrated  as  a  histo- 
rian. Charlemagne  was  also  the  patron  of  poetry.  By  his 
direction,  a  number  of  the  ancient  legends  and  ballads  of 
Germany  were  collected  and  committed  to  writing,  some  of 
which  were  probably  retouched  at  a  later  period,  and  are 
those  that  have  reached  our  times — in  fact,  are  all  that 
remain  of  ancient  legendary  lore;  the  Gothic  legends,  for 
instance,  particularly  those  of  Dietrich,  and  those  of  the 
Burgundians,  of  Etzel  and  Gonthachar,  which,  in  the.Nibe- 
lungenlied,  were  connected  with  those  of  the  Franks  and  of 
the  North.  The  deeds  of  Charlemagne  became  the  theme 
of  many  later  German  and  French  poets. 

Charlemagne  also  founded  several  monastic  schools  for 
the  diffusion  of  useful  knowledge  among  the  commonalty, 
and  more  especially  among  the  clergy.  The  most  celebrated 
were  those  of  Fulda,  Mayence,  St.  Gall,  Reichenau,  and 
Weissenburg,  which  produced  a  crowd  of  distinguished 
scholars.  The  emperor  sometimes  assisted  in  person  at 
these  academies,  and  one  day,  perceiving  the  superior  in- 
telligence and  industry  of  the  commoners  over  the  nobles, 
vehemently  expostulated  with  the  latter,  possibly  foreseeing 
in  this  circumstance  the  future  downfall  of  the  class  for 
whose  establishment  he  had  so  zealously  labored.  Masters 
for  writing,  arithmetic,  singing,  and  music,  were  brought 
from  Italy,  where  Latinity  and  art  had  been  preserved  by 
the  clergy.  At  Paris,  a  concert  was  given  by  the  emperor, 
which  decided  the  superiority  of  the  Italian  over  the  French 
singers.  A  grammar  of  the  German  language  was  com- 
posed. The  first  bell  was  cast  at  St.  Gall  by  a  monk  named 
Tancho,  who  is  said  to  have  received  a  hundredweight  of 
silver  from  the  emperor,  for  the  purpose  of  founding  a  seo- 
GEEMANY.  VOL.  I. — 13 


290  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

ond  one,  but  who  kept  the  silver  for  his  own  use,  and  made 
a  bell  of  common  metal,  at  whose  first  peal,  by  the  decree  of 
Heaven,  he  fell  dead. 

Charlemagne,  besides  being  a  distinguished  patron  of 
learning,  was,  for  the  times  in  which  he  lived,  a  great  pro- 
moter of  agriculture,  trade,  and  commerce.  He  improved 
the  calendar,  and  his  Capitularies  contained  separate  regula- 
tions for  each  class.  Notwithstanding  the  disinclination  of 
the  Germans  for  commercial  pursuits,  he  attempted  to  en- 
courage them  by  granting  extraordinary  privileges  to  mer- 
chants. The  Jews,  who,  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
had  been  carried  away  captive  by  the  Romans,  and  scattered 
over  the  face  of  the  earth,  had,  since  Rome  had  fallen  under 
the  dominion  of  Germany,  busied  themselves  exclusively 
with  commerce,  and  Charlemagne,  uninfluenced  by  the  prej- 
udices of  the  Christians,  rewarded  their  skill  and  industry  by 
granting  them  every  privilege  demanded  by  humanity  and 
consistent  with  the  advantage  of  the  state.  Roads  were 
built,  and  traveling  merchants  were  protected  by  severe 
laws.  An  alliance  was  formed  with  the  commercial  towns 
of  the  Slavi  on  the  Baltic,  and  with  the  Greeks,  the  former 
of  which  carried  on  a  traffic  in  slaves  and  furs,  the  latter  in 
precious  stones,  rich  stuffs,  and  fruits.  New  markets,  open 
to  foreign  merchants,  were  erected  in  the  interior  of  Ger- 
many, at  Bardewyk,  Magdeburg,  Erfurt,  Forchheim,  Ratis- 
bon,  and  Lorch.  The  imperial  palaces,  more  particularly 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  Heristal,  Nimwegen,  Diedenhofen,  Rense, 
Andernach,  Priim,  Ingelheim,  Worms,  Tribur,  Paderborn, 
and  Salzburg,  whose  gardens,  fields,  vineyards,  arable  lands, 
and  forests  were  cultivated  and  managed  by  the  emperor's 
servants  under  his  own  superintendence,  afforded  proof  of 
his  acquaintance  with  husbandry,  by  serving  as  models  to 
the  whole  empire  for  economy  and  good  management.  It 
was  here  that  he  carried  into  practice  the  knowledge  he  had 
acquired  from  the  Romans  and  the  Slavi,  who  were  far  in 
advance  of  the  Germans  in  the  arts  of  husbandry,  that  he 
cultivated  the  fruits  and  reared  the  animals  of  foreign  coun- 


CHARLEMAGNE  291 

tries,  and  made  experiments  for  the  improvement  of  agricul- 
ture. To  the  inhabitants  of  these  demesnes  he  gave  a  par- 
ticular law,  the  Capitulare  de  Villis,  which  contained  a 
complete  set  of  rules  for  the  agriculturist,  and  served  as 
a  manual  for  the  rest  of  his  subjects. 

The  only  artificers  at  this  period  were  women  and  serv- 
ants. The  daughters  of  Charlemagne  and  the  daughters  of 
the  peasants  were  equally  engaged  in  weaving,  embroidery 
and  housekeeping.  The  Capitularies  prescribed  rules  to  the 
artisans,  and  were  an  evidence  of  the  zeal  with  which  Charle- 
magne endeavored  to  introduce  the  refinements  of  the  South 
into  Germany,  and  the  variety  of  trades,  from  that  of  the 
jeweler  to  that  of  the  shoemaker,  mentioned  in  them,  prove 
how  greatly  he  had  already  contributed  to  the  comfort  and 
elegance  of  domestic  life.  The  use  of  richly-worked  and 
embroidered  dresses,  gay  coats  and  flags,  devices,  carved 
wainscoting,  ornamental  furniture  in  gold  and  silver,  sculp- 
tured drinking  cups,  splendid  arms  and  coats  of  mail,  glass 
windows  and  musical  instruments,  ere  long  gave  indication 
of  a  love  of  splendor  and  of  a  higher  degree  of  civilization 
and  social  intercourse.  Architecture  was  still  neglected, 
owing  to  the  dislike  of  the  Germans  to  the  erection  of  cities 
or  even  castles.  The  emperor's  palaces  at  Aix-la-Chapelle 
were  considered  so  wonderful  in  the  North  that  the  people 
compared  them  to  the  papal  residence,  and  named  them 
"Little  Rome."  At  Ingelheim,  on  the  Rhine,  stood  an- 
other palace,  the  remains  of  whose  ruins  fell  not  many  years 
ago.  Some  of  the  elegant  columns  that  once  formed  part  of 
it  may  still  be  seen  near  the  old  well  in  the  court  of  the  cas- 
tle of  Heidelberg.  Among  other  treasures,  Charlemagne  is 
said  to  have  possessed  one  golden  and  three  silver  tables,  the 
latter  of  which  bore  representations  of  ancient  Rome,  mod- 
ern Rome,  and  the  globe. 


292  THE  HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 


CXVII.    Charlemagne 

CHARLEMAGNE  is  said  to  have  been  seven  feet  in  height. 
His  crown,  preserved  at  Vienna,  is  of  gigantic  size.  Strong 
and  active  in  his  person,  he  was  a  perfect  adept  in  the  tour- 
nament and  in  the  use  of  weapons.  His  arm  was  as  irresist- 
ible as  his  commanding  genius.  The  ponderous  iron  lance 
was  wielded  like  a  toy  in  his  powerful  grasp.  In  swimming 
he  was  unequaled.  By  never  indulging  in  excess  or  luxury, 
his  strength,  maintained  by  daily  exercise,  endured  to  ex- 
treme old  age.  "Warlike  and  majestic  in  his  deportment, 
every  heart  throbbed  higher,  every  head  bent  with  deference 
and  awe,  at  his  presence.  Wisdom  and  nobility  sat  en- 
throned on  his  broad,  open  brow;  every  eye  sank  beneath 
his  piercing  and  commanding  glance.  His  dress,  generally 
simple  and  warlike,  consisted  of  a  doublet  composed  of  the 
fur  of  the  otter.  When  his  courtiers  first  began  to  wear 
sumptuous  silken  dresses,  he  led  them  one  day  mockingly 
into  the  heavy  rain,  which  quickly  spoiled  their  gay  attire. 
On  public  and  solemn  occasions,  he  wore  a  short  golden 
gown,  fastened  with  a  girdle;  gay-colored  ribbons  placed 
crosswise  over  his  trousers  and  stockings,  uncut  diamonds 
on  his  shoes,  and  a  mantle,  generally  either  white  or  green. 
The  handle  of  his  enormous  sword  bore  his  seal,  and  he  was 
wont  to  say,  "With  my  sword  I  maintain,  all,  to  which  I 
affix  my  seal. ' ' 

He  was  married  five  times,  and  had  five  concubines. 
Beauty  and  virtue  guided  his  choice  of  a  wife  more  than 
high  birth.  It  is  related  of  Hildegarde,  the  Swabian,  whom 
he  wedded  shortly  after  his  divorce  from  the  Lombard 
princess,  that  a  servant,  named  Taland,  enraged  at  the 
contempt  with  which  she  treated  his  criminal  advances, 
accused  her  of  infidelity  to  the  emperor,  who  divorced  her 
also;  upon  which  she  retired  to  Rome,  where  for  some  time 
she  led  a  life  of  great  sanctity,  and  devoted  herself  to  the 
care  of  the  sick,  until  happening  to  meet  with  Taland,  wan- 


CHARLEMAGNE  293 

dering  about  blind,  she  restored  him  to  sight,  and  the 
wretched  man,  struck  with  remorse,  confessed  his  crime 
and  led  her  back  to  her  husband.  The  legends  also  mention 
the  beautiful  daughters  of  Charlemagne,  who  sometimes  ac- 
companied him  to  the  field  of  battle.  His  secretary,  young 
Eginhart,  became  deeply  enamored  of  his  daughter  Emma, 
and  the  youthful  lovers,  fearing  his  anger  should  he  discover 
their  affection,  only  met  at  night.  It  happened  that  one 
night,  while  Eginhart  was  in  the  princess's  apartment,  a 
fall  of  snow  took  place.  To  return  across  the  palace  court 
must  lead  to  inevitable  discovery  by  the  traces  of  his  foot- 
steps. The  moment  called  for  resolution;  woman's  wit  came 
to  the  assistance  of  the  perplexed  lover,  and  the  faithful  and 
prudent  Emma,  taking  her  lover  on  her  back,  bore  him 
across  the  court.  The  emperor,  who  chanced  to  be  gazing 
from  his  window,  beheld  this  strange  sight  by  the  clear 
moonlight,  and  the  next  morning  sent  for  the  young  couple, 
who  stood  before  him  in  expectation  of  being  sentenced  to 
death,  when  the  generous  father  bestowed  upon  Eginhart 
his  daughter's  hand,  and  the  Odenwald  in  fief.  The  tomb 
of  Eginhart  and  Emma  is  still  to  be  seen  at  Erbach.  The 
counts  of  Erbach  claim  from  them  their  descent.  Eginhart 
became  a  celebrated  historian,  and  it  was  chiefly  through  the 
medium  of  his  pen  that  the  deeds  of  his  great  father-in-law 
were  handed  down  to  posterity.  Bertha,  the  second  daugh- 
ter, carried  on  a  similar  intrigue  with  young  Engelbert,  and, 
without  being  formally  married,  became  the  mother  of  Nit- 
hart,  who  distinguished  himself  as  a  historian.  Odoin  the 
brave  is  named  as  the  lover  of  the  third  daughter.  Louis, 
Charlemagne's  successor,  no  sooner  mounted  the  throne, 
than  he  imprisoned  his  sisters  in  a  convent  and  persecuted 
their  lovers.  Odoin,  too  proud  to  flee,  stood  firm  and  fought 
bravely  to  the  last  against  his  assassins.  The  lenity  with 
which  Charlemagne  treated  his  daughters  and  their  lovers 
unquestionably  arose  from  a  political  motive.  Had  he  wedded 
them  to  men  of  distinction  belonging  to  the  old  ducal  fami- 
lies, the  empire  must  ere  long  have  been  partitioned  between 


294  THE    HISTORY   OF    GERMANY 

his  sons-in-law.  In  order  to  avoid  this,  and  to  preserve  the 
unity  of  the  state,  by  rendering  rivalry  impossible,  he  conse- 
quently refused  his  daughters  any  share  in  the  heritage  or 
legal  marriages. 

Charlemagne  had  three  sons:  Charles,  who  died  early. 
Pipin,  a  young  man  of  talent,  who,  after  serving  in  several 
campaigns,  particularly  in  those  against  the  Avari  and  the 
Lombards,  rebelled  against  his  father  and  died  in  prison. 
His  history  is  extremely  obscure.  Louis,  the  third  son,  un- 
fortunately of  weaker  parts  than  his  brethren,  was  the  only 
one  who  survived  him. 

This  great  emperor  died  in  814.  He  lies,  or,  more  prop- 
erly speaking,  sits,  buried  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  where,  on  his 
tomb  being  opened  by  the  emperor  Otto  the  Third,  he  was 
found  sitting  upright  as  on  a  throne,  attired  in  his  imperial 
robes.  So  great  was  his  renown,  so  great  were  the  love  and 
veneration  he  inspired,  that  he  was  canonized,  and  pilgrim- 
ages were  made  to  his  grave.  The  effect  of  his  genius,  far 
from  ceasing  with  his  life,  shed  a  luster  over  succeeding 
centuries.  Radiant  with  majesty  and  sanctity,  the  founder 
of  the  new  empire  stood,  as  it  were,  on  the  threshold  of  that 
great  and  brilliant  era,  his  creation,  the  middle  age,  then 
opening  on  the  world.  His  fame,  unsurpassed  and  unequaled 
by  that  of  succeeding  emperors,  dazzled  posterity,  and  the 
memory  of  his  glory  bestowed  imperishable  dignity  on  the 
imperial  crown,  though  subsequently  placed  on  such  un- 
worthy brows.  Hence  the  great  emperor,  his  warriors,  his 
sages,  and  their  mighty  exploits,  naturally  formed  the  in- 
exhaustible subject  of  the  poetry  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  his 
reign  has  been  immortalized  by  German,  French  and  Span- 
ish poets,  in  whose  productions  the  great  events  of  later 
times,  and  the  results  of  more  modern  civilization,  are  as- 
cribed to  it  as  the  concentrating  point  of  all  that  is  sublime, 
glorious,  great,  and  beautiful.  The  Capitularies  and  letters 
of  Charlemagne  himself,  the  numerous  writings  of  Alcuin, 
the  historical  work  of  Eginhart,  a  manuscript  chronicle  at 
Paris,  and  the  romantic  account  of  the  monk  of  St.  Gall, 


THE   HISTORY  OF    THE   NORTH  295 

are  the  only  sources  of  information  concerning  this  emperor 
now  extant.  The  romance  of  Turpin  and  the  Weaver  are 
mere  fables. 


PART   VII 
THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  NORTH 

CXVIII.   Odin 

THE  North,  or  Scandinavia,  separated  from  Germany 
by  the  Baltic,  stretched  far  into  the  frigid  zone.  Den- 
mark lay  to  its  extreme  south.  From  time  immemo- 
rial the  fertile  lowlands  were  cultivated  by  a  hardy  popula- 
tion. Steep  Alps  separate  Sweden  from  Norway.  Ages  ago, 
along  the  extensive  rocky  coasts,  called  the  Scheeren,  and 
along  the  streams  flowing  through  the  valleys,  dwelt  tribes 
of  Fins,  who,  at  an  unknown  period,  were  driven  into  Fin- 
land, and  amid  the  eternal  snows  of  Lapland,  which  they 
still  inhabit,  by  Germans,  who  crossed  the  Baltic  and  took 
possession  of  the  countries  lying  to  the  North. 

The  most  ancient  sources  of  Northern  history  are  the 
legendary  accounts  of  celebrated  royal  dynasties,  which,  as 
is  usually  the  case  in  these  sort  of  legends,  drew  their  origin, 
in  the  fabulous  ages,  from  the  supreme  deity,  and  became 
the  first  rulers  over  the  people.  Thus  the  Swedish,  Norwe- 
gian, Danish,  and  Anglo-Saxon  kings  claim  as  their  com- 
mon ancestor  the  great  god,  Odin,  who  is  said  to  have 
subdued  the  whole  of  Northern  Germany  and  Scandinavia, 
which  he  divided  between  his  sons,  giving  Eastern  Saxony 
to  Vegdeg,  Western  Saxony  to  Balldr,  Franconia  to  Sigge, 
Denmark  to  Skiold,  Norway  to  Saming,  and  Sweden  to 
Yngwi-Freyr.  With  his  own  hands  he  raised  the  great 
temple  at  Upsala  in  Sweden,  where  he  was  represented 
under  the  figure  of  a  warrior  standing  before  an  enormous 


296  THE   HISTORY    OF    GERMANY 

flaming  sun.  Here  was  his  earthly  throne,  whence  he  gave 
laws  to  the  whole  North,  and  to  him  are  ascribed  the  inven- 
tion of  religious  ceremonies,  magic,  the  Runic  letters,  poetry, 
the  institution  of  the  popular  assembly  or  Thing,  and  of  the 
administration  of  justice,  heroism,  the  regulations  of  the 
warriors  or  warlike  retinue,  which  he  composed  of  Berserk- 
ers, and  every  important  popular  institution.  For  some  time 
after  the  death  of  Odin,  his  sons  appear  to  have  shared  his 
divine  attributes.  They  were  called  Drottar  or  lords,  a  word, 
in  its  full  meaning,  signifying  God-kings,  who  possessed 
power  equaling  that  of  Odin.  The  whole  of  Sweden  was 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  temple-court  at  Upsala,  the  seat 
of  government  of  the  Ynglinger  (from  Yngwi-Freyr) ;  the 
whole  of  Norway  under  that  of  the  sacred  city  of  Thrand- 
heim,  where  the  Saminger  sat  enthroned;  and  Denmark, 
under  that  of  the  great  temple  of  Lethra,  which  was  guarded 
by  the  Skioldunger.  So  far  extend  the  ancient  traditions  of 
the  gods,  which  soon  after  assume  a  more  worldly  tone,  and 
treat  of  men.  The  laws  and  institutions  of  ancient  Germany 
appear  to  have  spread  over  the  North  as  well  as  the  South. 
The  Swedish  legends  record  that  Dygwe,  the  seventh  Yng- 
linger after  Yngwi-Freyr,  was  the  first  who  exchanged  the 
title  of  Drottar  for  that  of  king. 

CXIX.    The  Kings 

THE  lineal  descendants  of  Odin  maintained  their  author- 
ity at  Upsala,  Thrandheim,  and  Lethra,  and  even  after  the 
extinction  of  their  race,  the  ancient  veneration  for  these 
sacred  cities  gave  to  the  districts  to  which  they  belonged, 
and  to  their  kings,  a  sort  of  pre-eminence  over  the  other  dis- 
tricts and  their  kings,  which  usually  simply  consisted  in  the 
honor  of  presiding  at  the  national  festivals,  except  in  cases 
when  this  dignity  chanced  to  be  attained  by  some  great  war- 
rior, who  made  use  of  the  superstition  of  his  countrymen  to 
increase  his  authority.  Besides  these  sacred  rnouarchs,  there 
arose  numerous  petty  Fylker-kings,  so  named  from  the  inde- 


THE   HISTORY   OF    THE   NORTH  29? 

pendent  Fylker  or  districts  over  which  they  reigned.  These 
kings  were,  at  first,  side-branches  of  the  race  of  Odin,  and 
united  in  their  persons  the  offices  of  Lagmenn  or  guardians 
of  the  laws,  of  Hof  dingiar,  presidents  of  the  popular  assembly 
and  administrators  of  justice  (chiefs  of  the  Thing),  and  of 
Blotmenn,  high  priests  of  the  altar;  they  were  also  Heer- 
konige,  or  kings  of  the  army  by  land,  and  sea-kings  by 
water. 

The  people  consisted  of  free  peasants  or  Bonden,  who 
possessed  a  heritable  and  inalienable  Allod  or  Odol,  free- 
hold. They  had  the  right  of  electing  the  king,  and  of  hold- 
ing their  public  councils  or  Things  under  his  presidency. 
Wealthy  Bonden  had  their  vassals  or  feudal  tenants  (Lendir- 
menn),  and  servants  or  slaves  (Tralle).  Individual  warriors, 
who  assembled  followers  and  practiced  piracy,  received  the 
title  of  sea-kings,  or,  when  they  fixed  their  abode  on  a  small 
island  or  rock  (Naes),  that  of  Naes-kings.  Other  warriors 
formed  a  republic  of  pirates,  each  of  whom  enjoyed  equal 
privileges  and  was  subject  to  the  same  regulations,  which 
were  often  extremely  severe.  "War  and  piracy  were  the 
daily  occupation  of  the  people.  The  kings  were  ever  at  feud. 
Sometimes  a  king  was  murdered  for  attempting  to  tyrannize 
over  the  people;  or  some  mighty  warrior  was,  for  a  short 
time,  successful  in  his  attacks  upon  neighboring  kings;  or 
part  of  the  people  migrated  to  the  South. 

The  state  of  the  North,  about  the  middle  of  the  first  cent- 
ury after  Christ,  is  thus  described  in  numerous  legends,  in 
which,  in  the  midst  of  the  universal  confusion,  its  three 
great  causes,  the  love  of  war,  the  attempts  of  the  Tralle  to 
escape  from  thralldom,  and  the  sturdy  opposition  of  the  Bon- 
den to  the  arbitrary  rule  of  the  kings,  may  ever  be  traced. 
This  continual  struggle  necessarily  produced  a  new  order  of 
things;  war  was  preferred  to  peace,  the  military  ruled  the 
civil  power,  and  the  warriors  tyrannized  over  the  Bonden, 
whose  Allods  were  alienated  by  the  kings,  and  the  feudal 
system  was  introduced.  Superstition  gave  the  sacred  kings 
the  upper  hand  over  the  minor  rulers,  and,  finally,  the  intro- 


29h  1HE    HISTORY    OF   GERMANY 

duction  of  Christianity  tended  to  bring  the  people  into  sub- 
jection and  to  fix  the  throne  on  a  firmer  basis. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  change  in  the  government  of 
the  three  kingdoms  proceeded  from  totally  different  causes. 
In  Denmark,  where  war  was  the  ruling  passion,  the  people 
crowded  beneath  the  banner  of  their  kings,  who  easily  ex- 
tended the  authority  they  thus  acquired.  In  Sweden,  the 
people  were  inthralled  by  superstition,  and  the  kings,  un- 
aided by  the  sword,  exercised  supreme  power  in  Odin's  sacred 
temple.  In  Norway,  the  authority  rested  with  the  people, 
and  the  Bonden,  whose  warlike  deeds  surpassed  those  of  their 
monarchs,  held  royalty  in  check;  and  it  was  only  after  a  long 
and  cruel  struggle,  which,  like  a  pestilence,  swept  away  half 
the  population,  that  they  at  length  fell  beneath  the  arbitrary 
rule  of  one  warrior  king. 

GXX.    The  Danes 

THE  Danes  bear  a  prominent  part  in  the  history  of  an- 
cient Germany.  As  early  as  a  century  before  Christ,  they 
appeared  on  the  other  side  of  the  Pyrenees  and  Alps,  under 
the  denomination  of  Cimbri,  and,  at  a  later  date,  sent  forth 
the  hardy  Longobardi.  Invincible  hi  their  own  country, 
they  spread  their  conquering  arms,  at  different  periods,  over 
the  whole  of  the  North,  where  their  power  for  some  time 
equaled  that  attained  by  the  Franks  in  the  South.  Frotho, 
the  second  king  after  Skiold,  is  said  to  have  subdued  upward 
of  a  hundred  of  the  minor  kings  who  dwelt  along  the  shores 
of  the  Northern  Ocean  and  the  Baltic.  He  is  described  hi 
the  legends  as  a  great  lawgiver,  and  as  so  beloved  by  his 
subjects,  that,  despairing  to  find  his  equal,  they  bore  his 
body  about  the  country  for  three  years ;  at  length  they  re- 
solved to  elect  as  his  successor  on  the  throne  whoever  com- 
posed the  best  poem  in  his  honor,  and  one  Hiarne  obtained 
the  prize.  The  sixth  king  after  him  was  Dan  Mykelati,  who 
gave  his  name  to  the  country.  Several  new  regulations  are 
ascribed  to  him,  among  others,  the  abolition  of  the  burning 


THE    HISTORY   OF   THE   NORTH  299 

of  the  dead  and  the  introduction  of  tumuli,  in  which  the 
dead  bodies  were  placed  unconsumed,  and  which  gave  name 
to  the  subsequent  age,  that  anterior  to  this  king  being  known 
as  the  Brandalter,  or  age  of  burning.  The  power  of  the  race 
of  Odin  appears  to  have  ceased  with  him.  His  tenth  succes- 
sor was  Hrolf,  surnamed  the  Dwarf,  on  account  of  his  di- 
minutive stature.  His  commanding  intellect  insured  the  re- 
spect of  his  subjects.  At  his  decease  the  state  was  divided 
among  several  minor  kings,  who  preserved  their  independ- 
ence until  their  subjection  by  Ivar  Widfadmi  (the  far-spread- 
ing) and  his  warriors,  who  also  conquered  many  other  coun- 
tries. This  king  drove  the  Ynglinger  out  of  Sweden,  and 
placed  his  brother  on  the  throne  of  Upsala.  After  his  death, 
the  kingdom  became  a  prey  to  faction,  and  brethren  and 
sons  strove  for  dominion.  In  the  eighth  century  Gorm  the 
Old  seized  the  supreme  authority.  During  his  reign  the  first 
attempt  to  convert  the  Danes  to  Christianity  was  made  by  a 
traveler,  named  Thorkill,  who  had  embraced  that  religion 
during  his  stay  in  France,  and  who,  on  his  return  to  Den- 
mark, produced  such  an  effect  by  his  preaching  on  the  mind 
of  the  aged  king  that  he  died  of  remorse  for  having  spent 
his  long  life  in  error  and  idolatry.  The  new  doctrine  was 
rejected  by  the  people.  Gottrik,  or  Gottfried,  the  son  of 
Gorm,  aided  "Wittekind  and  the  pagan  Saxons,  and  was  on 
the  point  of  attacking  Aix-la-Chapelle,  when  he  was  mur- 
dered by  his  subjects.  Hemming,  his  successor,  made  peace 
with  the  emperor.  After  fresh  disturbances,  Regnar  Lod- 
brok  came  to  the  throne.  He  was  one  of  the  greatest  of  the 
Danish  warriors,  and  his  fame  formed  the  theme  of  numer- 
ous legends.  His  prowess  was  celebrated  throughout  the 
whole  of  the  North.  His  expedition  against  Ella,  the  Saxon 
king  in  England,  proved  fatal  to  him.  He  was  captured  by 
that  prince,  to  whom  he  was  unknown,  and  imprisoned  in  a 
towei  full  of  snakes,  where  with  undaunted  courage  he  re- 
counted his  deeds  in  song  until  life  was  extinct.  He  was  a 
zeaious  heathen,  and  expelled  his  brother,  Harald  Klak,  for 
bis  attachment  to  the  new  doctrine.  Harald  fled  to  the  em- 


300  THE  HISTORY  OF  GERMANY 

peror  of  Germany,  Louis  the  Pious,  the  son  of  Charlemagne, 
and  was  baptized  at  Ingelheim.  In  the  same  year,  A.D.  826, 
St.  Anscar,  a  pious  monk,  afterward  known  as  the  apostle  of 
the  North,  visited  Denmark,  and  soon  afterward  Sweden, 
where  he  preached  the  gospel  at  the  peril  of  his  life.  In  834 
the  bishopric  of  Hamburg  was  founded  as  a  means  of  accel- 
erating the  conversion  of  the  North. 

The  history  of  this  period  is  very  obscure.  The  kings 
strove  for  supremacy,  some  of  them  favoring  Christianity 
from  interested  motives,  while  the  rest  defended  then*  ancient 
gods.  Christianity,  cruelly  persecuted,  spread  but  slowly, 
and  the  German  priests,  in  order  to  curry  favor  with  the 
people,  either  omitted  part  of  the  Catholic  doctrine  or  assim- 
ilated it  with  paganism.  Thus  the  conversion  was  alwaj^s 
commenced  with  the  primsignung,  or  first  mark  with  a 
cross.  Whoever  was  marked  hi  this  manner  could  live  as 
he  chose,  either  as  a  Christian  or  a  heathen.  The  majority 
of  the  people  and  their  rulers  still  adhered  to  the  worship  of 
Odin,  and  Hamburg  was  again  destroyed  during  their  de- 
structive inroads  into  the  German  empire. 

In  931,  Gorm  the  Grim  ruled  Denmark,  and  persecuted 
the  Christians.  His  son  Harald  Blaatand  (blue  tooth)  fa- 
vored them,  but,  making  himself  hated  by  his  despotism, 
was  murdered  by  a  peasant.1  His  successor,  the  pagan 
Svend,  carried  on  extensive  wars,  particularly  against  the 
lomsburger,  a  republic  of  warriors  and  pirates  on  the  island 
of  Wollin  near  Pomerania,  and  against  the  "Wendi.  In  his 
reign,  another  piratical  horde,  the  Ascomanni  or  Schachtel- 
manner  (box-men),  assembled  and  greatly  endangered  Sax- 
ony. They  were  so  numerous  that  the  Saxons  killed  20,000 
of  them  in  one  battle. 

Canute  the  Great,  the  most  celebrated  of  the  kings  of  the 
North,  the  conqueror  of  Norway  and  England,  was  the  pro- 


1  Named  Toki.  The  circumstances  of  this  murder  correspond  minutely  with 
those  of  the  murder  of  Gessler,  the  Swiss  governor,  by  Tell.  Even  the  name 
is  the  same;  Toki  and  Tell  signifying,  like  the  Latin  Brutus,  a  simpleton. — 
Saxo  Grammaticua. 


THE   HISTORY   OF   THE  NORTH  301 

moter  of  Christianity,  which  took  firm  root  in  Denmark.  He 
left  new  laws,  extended  the  royal  prerogative,  and  was  the 
founder  of  a  new  era,  that  of  the  middle  ages,  in  the  North. 
Toward  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century,  the  history  of  Den- 
mark was  written  in  Latin  by  an  erudite  Dane,  named  Saxc 
Grammaticus. 

CXXI.    The  Swedes 

DYGWE,  the  seventh  Ynglinger,  first  assumed  the  title  of 
king.  During  the  reign  of  his  tenth  successor,  Eigill,  a  civil 
war  broke  out ;  the  Tralle,  headed  by  Tunni,  one  of  their 
class,  revolted,  and  were  in  eight  bloody  battles  victorious 
over  the  Bonden,  whom  they  completely  expelled,  together 
with  their  king,  and  Tunni  became  sole  sovereign.  Eigill 
fled  to  the  court  of  Frotho,  the  great  king  of  Denmark,  and 
the  conqueror  of  the  North,  who,  lending  him  his  aid,  over- 
ran Sweden  at  the  head  of  his  veteran  warriors,  and,  after 
nine  battles,  in  the  last  of  which  Tunni  and  the  majority  of 
the  brave  Tralle  were  left  dead  on  the  field,  restored  Eigill 
to  the  throne. 

The  petty  Fylker-kings  subsequently  asserted  their  inde- 
pendence. EigilPs  sixth  successor,  Ingialldr,  desiring  to  re- 
gain the  supreme  authority,  invited  six  of  these  kings  to  a 
banquet,  and,  after  inducing  them  to  carouse  deeply,  set  fire 
to  the  house  in  which  they  slept.  His  punishment  did  not 
tarry  long.  Ivar  Widfadmi,  the  Dane,  marched  victoriously 
through  the  North  and  arrived  in  Sweden.  Ingialldr,  sensi- 
ble of  the  futility  of  opposition,  but  too  proud  to  yield,  invited 
all  his  followers  to  a  great  banquet,  and  when  they  were 
helpless  from  inebriety,  set  fire  to  the  palace  in  which  they 
sat,  and  was  destroyed  with  them.  His  son,  Olaf,  mean- 
while, accompanied  by  numbers  of  the  people,  took  refuge 
in  the  northern  mountains,  and  discovering  a  fertile  and  un- 
inhabited country,  settled  there,  and  named  it  Wermeland. 
Soon  after  their  settlement,  a  famine,  occasioned  by  the  bad 
cultivation  of  the  ground,  broke  out  among  them,  and  they 


302  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

offered  up  their  king  as  an  expiatory  sacrifice  to  the  gods. 
The  descendants  of  Olaf,  by  their  bravery  and  by  their  in 
termarriages  with  the  noblest  families  of  Norway,  rose  ere 
long  to  great  power,  and  finally  seized  the  monarchy. 

Sweden  was,  meanwhile,  long  governed  by  kings  of  Dan- 
ish origin,  during  whose  reigns  Christianity  was  first  intro- 
duced from  Denmark.  In  829,  St.  Anscar  visited  the  coun- 
try, but  the  new  doctrine  met  with  violent  opposition.  In 
865,  St.  Rimbert  made  another  short  but  useless  attempt,  and 
paganism  was  not  eradicated  until  930,  when  Unno,  bishop 
of  Bremen,  who  was  succeeded  in  his  pious  mission  by  other 
Germans,  visited  Sweden  for  that  purpose.  The  last  pagan 
king  of  Upsala  was  Eric  the  Victorious. 

About  the  year  1000,  Olaf,  surnamed  the  Schoos,  or 
bosom  king,  on  account  of  his  having  been  proclaimed  and 
raised  in  the  arms  of  the  people,  was  the  founder  of  a  new 
era  in  Sweden.  He  was  unanimously  elected  by  the  Fylker- 
kings  as  their  common  sovereign.  During  his  reign,  Chris- 
tianity was  firmly  established  throughout  his  dominions. 

CXXII.    The  Norwegians 

NORWAY  was  subdivided  among  a  crowd  of  Fylker,  army, 
sea,  and  Naes  kings,  who  strove  with  each  other  by  sea  and 
land.  The  independent  spirit  of  the  Bonden  was  long  an  in- 
vincible obstacle  to  union ;  in  no  other  country  has  the  people 
been  possessed  of  so  much  power,  in  no  other  has  it  been  so 
difficult  for  the  kings  and  the  military  to  bring  the  free  peas- 
antry into  subjection.  In  the  ninth  century,  one  of  the  petty 
kings,  Harald  Harfagra  (with  the  beautiful  locks),  who  is 
said  to  have  been  a  descendant  of  the  expelled  Ynglingers, 
succeeded,  after  a  long  and  desperate  struggle,  in  usurping 
dominion  over  the  whole  of  Norway.  His  proffered  love  be- 
ing treated  with  contempt  by  Gyda,  the  most  beautiful  and 
the  proudest  of  the  maidens  of  Norway,  who  had  vowed  that 
she  would  alone  bestow  her  hand  on  him  who  presented  her 
With  the  whole  of  her  country  as  a  morning-gift,  he  swore 


THE   HISTORY  OF   THE   NORTH  303 

that  he  would  not  comb  his  beautiful  hair  until  he  had 
gained  the  sole  sovereignty,  and,  assembling  a  crowd  of 
youthful  warriors  beneath  his  standard,  unexpectedly  at- 
tacked and  subdued  his  neighbors,  one  by  one.  The  fame 
of  his  irresistible  prowess  quickly  spread,  and  some  of  the 
provinces  voluntarily  submitted  to  him.  One  of  the  petty 
kings,  rather  than  incur  disgrace  by  flight  or  by  defeat, 
buried  himself  alive  with  his  dependents  and  friends.  At 
length,  the  kings  who  still  remained  unsubdued  made  com- 
mon cause,  and  a  great  battle  was  fought,  in  which  Harald 
was  victorious.  Subsequent  rebellions  proved  vain;  Har- 
ald's  power  became  gradually  more  firmly  secured,  and, 
after  the  lapse  of  a  few  years,  he  grasped  the  scepter  of  Nor- 
way. He  now  combed  his  locks  and  espoused  the  beauteous 
Gyda.  His  throne,  raised  upon  ruin  and  bloodshed,  could 
alone  be  supported  by  treachery  and  violence,  and  while  he 
caused  the  nobler  and  more  resolute  of  the  petty  kings  to  be 
murdered,  he  cajoled  the  more  cowardly  with  rich  gifts  and 
high  but  empty  honors.  He  deprived  them  of  their  thrones 
and  their  independence,  placed  them,  in  the  capacity  of  Stadt- 
holders  or  Jarls,  over  the  provinces  they  formerly  governed, 
and  by  his  despotic  violence  obtained  for  them  far  greater 
power  over  the  Bonden,  whom  he  transformed  into  vassals, 
and  richer  revenues  than  they  had  hitherto  enjoyed.  Pop- 
ular freedom  was  annihilated  at  a  blow ;  every  Odol  (free- 
hold) was  declared  crown  property,  and  for  the  future  held 
in  fief  by  its  original  possessor.  This  destruction  of  the  old 
German  Allod  and  Gau  system  was  unprecedentedly  sudden 
and  violent,  and  the  more  astonishing  from  its  happening  to 
the  German  tribe  most  jealous  of  its  freedom ;  nor  was  this 
revolution  in  any  way  aided  by  the  obedience  inculcated  by 
the  precepts  of  Christianity,  Harald  and  the  Norwegians 
being  'still  idolaters.  Unwearied  by  the  ceaseless  warfare, 
Harald  ever  pursued  his  aim  with  unremitting  perseverance. 
Rebellion  was  foreseen  and  crushed  in  the  bud,  and  flight 
alone  secured  the  rebel  from  death;  hence  it  naturally  re- 
sulted that  the  continual  migrations  gradually  reduced  the 


804  THE   HISTORY   OF  GERMANY 

population  of  Norway  to  half  its  original  number.  On  the 
death  of  Harald,  his  empire,  erected  at  the  cost  of  so  much 
bloodshed,  fell  to  pieces,  but  the  people  were  too  enfeebled 
by  tyranny  to  raise  themselves  entirely  from  their  state  of 
subjection.  The  Bonden  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  elect- 
ing a  new  king,  and  strife  was  about  to  ensue,  when  Hakon, 
surnamed  the  Good,  the  son  of  Harald,  who  had  been  bred 
up  as  a  Christian  in  England,  appeared,  and  peaceably  ad- 
dressing them,  promised  to  revoke  the  tyrannical  impositions 
of  his  father,  and  especially  to  restore  to  each  man  the  free 
tenure  of  his  Odol.  Pleased  with  these  promises,  the  people 
elected  him  at  Thrandheim,  and  he  was  subsequently  pro- 
claimed king  throughout  the  Fylker.  A  new  source  of  con- 
tention arose  from  his  attempting  to  introduce  Christianity, 
which  the  Bonden  successfully  resisted,  and  forced  their  king 
to  preside  at  their  sacrificial  feast,  and  to  eat  of  the  flesh  of 
the  sacred  horse. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  tenth  century,  Olaf  Tryggvason, 
who  had  been  a  bold  pirate  in  his  youth,  and  had  become  a 
convert  to  Christianity,  was  elected  king,  and  undertook  the 
work  of  conversion  with  a  zeal  worthy  of  Charlemagne.  At 
the  great  Things  or  assemblies,  the  Bonden,  headed  by  their 
Blotmenn,  and  sometimes  by  their  idols,  now  confronted  the 
monarch,  surrounded  by  the  Christian  bishops,  and  his  bril- 
liant train  of  warriors.  The  debate  upon  religion  usually 
lasted  several  days,  and  terminated  in  violence.  Olaf  finally 
had  recourse  co  arms,  and  the  most  dreadful  scenes  of  slaugh- 
ter ensued.  He  would  sometimes  unexpectedly  invade  se- 
cluded valleys,  or  isolated  tracts,  whose  inhabitants  obsti- 
nately rejected  Christianity,  and  lay  them  waste  by  fire  and 
sword.  The  Bonden,  meanwhile,  were  not  idle ;  the  arrow, 
the  signal  for  a  general  rising,  flew  through  the  country, 
and  Hakon,  one  of  the  most  powerful  of  the  Jarls,  who  was 
scarcely  inferior  to  the  king  in  talent  and  bravery,  placed 
himself  at  their  head ;  but  his  success  was  rendered  null  by 
his  ambition,  arrogance,  and  licentiousness.  The  Bonden, 
deeply  injured  by  his  forcible  abduction  of  their  wives  and 


THE  HISTORY  OF   THE  NORTH  305 

daughters,  or  offended  by  his  haughty  demeanor,  revolted 
against  and  murdered  him ;  an  event  that  proved  little  favor- 
able to  Olaf ,  who,  being  defeated  by  Eiric,  the  son  of  Hakon, 
and  by  his  allies,  the  Danes  and  Swedes,  in  a  great  sea-fight, 
threw  himself,  together  with  all  his  followers,  into  the  sea, 
rather  than  incur  the  disgrace  of  captivity.  Norway  was 
partitioned  by  the  victors,  but,  in  the  beginning  of  the  elev- 
enth century,  was  again  united  under  the  scepter  of  Olaf  the 
Holy,  who  was  canonized  on  account  of  his  zeal  in  the  work 
of  conversion.  His  first  attempts  for  the  conversion  of  his 
heathen  subjects,  by  means  of  instruction,  failing,  he  had 
recourse  to  persecution,  and  emulated  his  predecessor,  Olaf 
Tryggvason,  in  cruelty,  laying  whole  villages  of  unbelievers 
waste  with  fire  and  sword.  At  length,  a  casual  occurrence 
was  the  means  of  effecting  a  general  conversion.  A  great 
Thing  was  being  held  at  Thrandheim,  as  usual,  by  moon- 
light. 

The  Bonden  stood,  in  immense  numbers,  forming  a  half 
circle,  armed  and  with  threatening  aspect,  opposite  the 
king  and  his  warriors.  Olaf  exerted  his  utmost  eloquence 
in  the  cause  of  Christianity,  but  the  Bonden  replied  to  his 
arguments  by  saying,  "A  God  whom  we  can  neither  see  nor 
touch,  is  no  God,"  and  pointing  to  a  gigantic  wooden  image 
of  Thor,  richly  ornamented  with  gold,  called  upon  the  mon- 
arch to  show  them  his  god.  The  king  mocked  the  wooden 
god,  which  had  not  the  power  of  motion,  and  must  be  car- 
ried by  his  worshipers.  At  that  moment,  the  rising  sun 
illumined  the  eastern  horizon.  "Behold!"  exclaimed  the 
enthusiastic  monarch,  "Behold!  our  God  approaches!"  as 
he  uttered  these  words,  one  of  his  followers  split  the  image 
with  one  blow  of  his  battle-ax,  and  snakes  and  mice,  which 
had  nestled  inside,  came  rushing  out,  and  the  Bonden,  mute 
with  awe,  turned  from  the  prostrate  idol  to  bend  in  ado- 
ration to  the  sun,  which  that  day  shone  upon  a  Chris- 
tian land. 

Olaf  was  the  founder  of  a  new  era  in  Norway,  but  did  not 
escape  the  punishment  he  merited  for  his  numerous  deeds  of 


306  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

cruelty.  At  that  period,  Canute  the  Great  undertook  the 
conquest  of  the  North,  and  some  of  the  Norwegians,  thirst- 
ing to  revenge  their  slaughtered  brethren,  some  ambitious 
Jarls,  and  all,  in  fact,  who  hoped  to  profit  by  a  revolution, 
invited  him  into  their  country.  Olaf ,  after  being  defeated 
in  a  great  sea-fight,  fell  a  victim  to  treachery,  and  Norway 
became  a  Danish  province. 

Snorri  Sturleson,  the  great  Norwegian  historian,  com- 
piled his  work  in  the  Icelandic  tongue,  in  the  earlier  half 
of  the  thirteenth  century. 

CXX1II.    Christianity  and  the  Feudal  System  in  the 

North 

SUBSEQUENTLY  to  this  period,  the  history  of  the  North 
presents  little  worthy  of  remark  until  the  time  of  the  Refor- 
mation, and  will  for  the  future  be  merely  referred  to  in  this 
work  when  in  relation  with  the  affairs  of  Germany.  The 
three  kingdoms,  or  generally  two  of  them,  appeal-  to  have 
been  sometimes  forcibly  united  under  one  sovereign,  at  oth- 
ers again  ruled  by  independent  kings,  and  a  long  list  of 
bloody  broils  between  monarchs,  and  of  contentions  for  the 
succession  to  the  throne,  blacken  the  page,  which  is  alone 
rendered  interesting  by  the  repeated  attempts  made  by  the 
peasantry,  at  different  periods,  in  each  of  the  three  king- 
doms, to  rescue  their  privileges  from  the  deadly  grasp  of 
their  kings  or  stadtholders,  to  abolish  the  tithes  exacted  by 
the  clergy,  and  to  check  the  rising  power  of  the  vassals  of 
the  crown,  and  the  growing  importance  of  the  cities;  but, 
although  these  revolutions  often  proved  fatal  to  the  mon- 
archs, the  authority  of  the  state,  the  church  and  the  nobil- 
ity was  already  too  firmly  based  on  the  superstitious  belief 
of  the  Middle  Ages  to  be  shaken  by  the  futile  attempts  of  a 
body  of  peasants  for  the  restoration  of  the  ancient  German 
system  of  government,  which,  however,  still  pervaded  the 
constitution  of  the  three  kingdoms,  founded  upon  that  of 
the  Franks. 


THE  HISTORY   Of    THE   NORTH  30? 

The  divine  right  of  kings  was  the  more  easily  recognized 
from  its  accordance  with  the  legendary  superstition  an- 
ciently attached  to  the  Drottars,  the  descendants  of  Odin. 
A  brilliant  court,  composed  of  a  noble  band  of  scalds  or 
bards,  and  of  a  warlike  retinue,  added  splendor  to  royalty. 
The  monarch  nominated  his  Jarls  as  stadtholders  over  the 
Fylker  and  subordinate  Herses  over  lesser  tracts ;  the  former 
of  whom  corresponded  to  the  Grafs,  the  latter  to  the  Cent- 
ners, of  the  Franks.  Sometimes  it  happened  that  a  more 
powerful  Jarl  was  placed  over  several  others,  and  eventually 
received  the  Frankish  title  of  duke.  At  the  side  of  the  tem- 
poral governor  or  Jarl  stood  his  spiritual  colleague,  the 
bishop.  The  Fylker  still  retained  the  privilege  of  holding 
popular  assemblies,  which  the  king,  the  Jarl,  or  the  bishop 
attended  in  person.  At  a  time  when  the  royal  prerogative 
was  still  held  in  check  by  these  assemblies,  the  Lagmann,  or 
guardian  of  the  national  laws  and  privileges,  confronted  the 
monarch  at  the  head  of  the  Bonden,  by  whom  he  was  chosen 
as  the  representative  of  their  class ;  a  dignity  at  once  sacred 
and  formidable. 

The  formation  of  a  new  class  of  nobility,  composed  of  the 
vassals  of  the  crown,  and  the  gradual  rise  of  cities  and  com- 
munities, greatly  checked  the  power  of  the  Bonden,  and  a 
struggle  naturally  ensued,  in  which  the  peasantry,  although 
vanquished,  finally  retained,  through  their  brilliant  exploits 
and  unwearied  perseverance,  an  honorable  position  in  the 
state.  The  great  council  of  state — which  in  each  of  the 
three  kingdoms  replaced  the  general  popular  assemblies  and 
greatly  diminished  the  authority  of  the  sovereign — was  com- 
posed of  deputies,  the  representatives  of  the  clergy,  the  no- 
bility, the  communities,  and  the  peasantry;  a  prerogative 
that  was  never  enjoyed  by  the  peasantry  of  the  German 
empire. 

CXXIV.    Iceland  and  Greenland 

DURING  the  reign  of  Harald  Harfagra,  A.D.  863,  the 
island  of  Iceland,  with  its  snow-capped  mountains — one  of 


308  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

which,  Hecla,  was  at  that  time  vomiting  fire — was  discovered 
by  a  Norwegian  vessel,  driven  northward  out  of  its  course, 
which  bore  news  of  the  discovery  to  Norway,  where  it  was 
hailed  with  delight  by  the  people,  who,  oppressed  by  tyranny, 
were  at  that  period  quitting  their  homes  in  thousands  to  seek 
elsewhere  an  asylum  for  their  threatened  liberty.  The  first 
settler,  Ingolf,  was  speedily  followed  by  such  crowds  of  fugi- 
tives that  the  island,  notwithstanding  its  size,  seemed  likely 
to  be  over-populated,  and  it  was  accordingly  enacted,  A.D. 
873,  that  each  new-comer  should  receive  the  portion  of  land 
covered  by  the  smoke  arising  from  a  burning  heap  of 
fagots. 

At  first  each  tribe  was  headed  by  its  own  chief  or 
elder  (Godar),  but  at  a  later  period  they  were  all  in- 
cluded in  four  provinces  (Fiordungen),  independent  of  each 
other,  according  to  the  ancient  German  system,  and  an- 
swering to  the  four  cardinal  points  in  their  position  on  the 
island. 

The  fraudulent  plans  of  Olaf  Tryggvason,  for  the  posses- 
sion of  the  island,  were  foiled  by  the  decided  refusal  returned 
to  his  flattering  proposals  by  the  national  assembly.  Chris- 
tianity was  first  introduced  in  981,  by  a  Saxon  priest  named 
Frederich,  and  in  the  year  1000  it  had  already  become  so 
widely  diffused  that  the  Christian  party  succeeded  in  caus- 
ing their  religion  to  be  proclaimed,  in  the  public  assembly, 
that  of  the  state ;  this  led  to  the  dissolution  of  the  Gau  sys- 
tem, and  to  the  union  of  the  island  into  one  state,  governed 
by  a  Lagmann,  whose  dignity  was  not  hereditary,  and  who 
presided  over  the  general  assembly  or  Althing.  This  simple 
republican  form  of  government  continued  until  1261,  when 
the  union  of  the  island  with  Norway  was  managed  by  the 
clergy  and  the  Norwegian  kings,  with  the  concurrence  of 
the  people,  who  were  allowed  to  retain  their  own  laws. 
Since  this  period  the  island  has  sunk  into  insignificance. 
The  ancient  German  system  of  government  was  maintained 
for  a  longer  period  and  in  greater  purity  in  Iceland,  while 
she  retained  her  independence,  than  in  any  other  part  of 


THE    HISTORY   OF   THE   NORTH  309 

Europe,  and  her  historical  importance  now  alone  consists  in 
her  possessing  the  only  records  in  existence  of  the  language 
(which  is  still  spoken  by  the  inhabitants),  the  poetry,  relig- 
ion, and  legends  of  the  ancient  North,  by  which  the  obscu- 
rity of  its  history  can  be  elucidated.  The  influence  and  fame 
of  Rome,  which  spread  over  Germany,  casting  into  oblivion 
remote  and  pagan  times,  scarce  echoed  to  that  distant  shore, 
whose  hardy  sons  and  cold  ungenial  clime  alike  disdained 
the  culture  of  the  South,  and  where  whose  gods,  now  no 
longer  adored,  still  live  in  song. 

Shortly  after  the  discovery  of  Iceland,  Greenland,  the 
northeastern  part  of  the  continent  of  America,  was  discov- 
ered by  the  Norwegians,  who  thus  claim  the  honor  of  the 
discovery  of  America  about  five  centuries  earlier  than  that 
of  Columbus.  Greenland,  so  named  on  account  of  the  ver- 
dure of  the  land  and  forests,  must,  at  that  period,  have  been 
a  fine  country.  The  Norwegians,  who  had  settled  there  in 
great  numbers,  were  carrying  on  a  great  traffic  with  Nor- 
way, and  the  Jarls,  placed  over  the  new  country  by  the 
Norwegian  monarchs,  had  become  great  and  powerful,1 
when  sudden  destruction  fell  upon  the  colony;  a  fearful 
frost  spread  from  the  north  pole,  and  covered  the  country 
with  snow  and  ice,  as  it  is  to  be  seen  at  the  present  day. 
The  land,  deserted  by  the  Norwegians,  was  soon  completely 
forgotten,  and  entirely  disappeared  from  history,  until  the 
second  discovery  of  America. 

The  Norwegians  also  sailed  to  the  southwest  of  Iceland 
and  Greenland,  and  landed  in  a  new  country,  which  they 
named  Winland,  from  the  vine  which  there  grew  wild. 
They  afterward  made  several  expeditions  to  this  coast, 
which,  doubtless,  formed  part  of  that  of  America,  and  re- 
turned richly  laden  with  its  natural  productions. 

The  Shetland,  Orkney,  and  Faro  Islands  were,  in  the 
ninth  centurj",  cultivated  by  the  Norwegians,  and  governed 
by  Jarls.  The  Faro  Islands  are  said  to  have  been  long  re- 

1  Snorri  gives  a  detailed  account  of  these  facts. 


310  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

tained  in  paganism,  by  the  cunning  of  old  Tnind  of  Gote,  a 
sorcerer  of  legendary  fame. 

The  distant  expeditions  undertaken  by  the  Norwegians 
prove  their  naval  skill.  They  were  the  first  who  ventured 
into  the  open  sea.  Other  nations,  until  then,  were  only  ac- 
quainted with  the  navigation  of  the  coasts.  It  is  also  evi- 
dent, from  their  bold  and  distant  voyages,  that  they  pos- 
sessed a  sort  of  compass.  The  Northern  navigators  who 
penetrated  the  Mediterranean,  and  settled  in  Greece  and 
Italy,  taught  then*  art  to  the  Southerns.  All  the  terms  made 
use  of  in  navigation  at  the  present  day  by  all  the  nations  of 
Europe  may  also  be  traced  to  a  German  origin. 

CXXV.    The  Norsemen 

THE  daring  expeditions  and  armed  fraternities  of  the  an- 
cient Germans  were  common  to  all  the  Northern  nations,  and 
ceased  only  with  the  ancient  system  of  government.  They 
were  continued  to  a  much  later  period  among  the  Scandina- 
vians, and  figure  in  history  as  the  expeditions  of  the  Norse- 
men, the  general  appellation  for  all  the  Scandinavian  nations 
among  the  people  of  more  southern  latitudes. 

The  whole  of  the  North  swarmed  with  sea  and  Naes 
kings,  and  piratical  republics,  who  attacked  alike  foreign 
and  native  ships,  and  landed  indiscriminately  on  any  coast 
for  battle  or  for  plunder;  nor  was  the  authority  of  either  the 
monarch  or  the  Fylker-kings  respected  by  their  subjects, 
until  some  great  and  piratical  expedition  had  added  luster  to 
their  name.  These  warlike  and  piratical  expeditions  received 
an  additional  impulse  when  the  monarchical  power  in  each 
of  the  three  kingdoms  became  almost  despotic  and  drove  the 
people,  wild  as  the  element  with  which  they  strove,  to  seek 
refuge  from  tyranny  at  home  on  the  ocean  wave.  During 
the  reign  of  Harald  Harfagra,  half  the  population  of  Nor- 
way fled  at  times  for  safety  to  their  ships.  Immense  num- 
bers of  these  pirates  wandered  about  the  Northern  Ocean, 
striking  their  native  shores  with  terror,  while  others,  as  has 


THE   HISTORY   OF   THE   NORTH  311 

been  already  related,  colonized  the  northern  islands  and 
Greenland.  Others,  again,  devastated  the  coasts  of  Saxony 
and  France,  ventured  up  the  rivers,  and  fought  many  a  hard 
battle  with  the  Germans  and  Neustrians.  A  great  multitude 
of  this  description,  led  by  Hollo  and  flying  from  Harald 
Schonhaar,  took  possession  of  the  northern  coast  of  France, 
hence  named  Normandy,  and  voluntarily  embraced  Chris- 
tianity. Rollo  received  the  name  of  Robert,  and  took  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  French  monarch  as  first  duke  of 
Normandy,  A.D.  911,  while  his  followers,  a  mere  armed  mul- 
titude, naturally  adopted  the  feudal  system.  Similar  hordes 
and  the  Danish  kings,  at  the  head  of  immense  armies,  in- 
vaded, and,  at  different  times,  took  possession  of  the  whole 
of  England,  peopled  some  of  the  provinces,  and,  although 
finally  obliged  to  yield  to  the  ancient  Anglo-Saxons,  made  a 
deep  and  lasting  impression  on  the  British  language,  man- 
ners, and  constitution.  At  a  later  period,  a  duke  of  Nor- 
mandy conquered  and  reigned  over  England,  where  he  intro- 
duced the  feudal  system,  A.D.  1066.  Other  hordes  ventured 
into  the  Mediterranean,  and  opposed  the  Moors.  Adventur- 
ers from  the  North  also  founded  a  state  in  Sicily,  and  shortly 
afterward  the  powerful  kingdom  of  Naples.  The  expeditions 
of  the  Norsemen  to  the  East  are  equally  remarkable.  The 
Danish  and  Swedish  kings  waged  bloody  wars  with  the 
Wendi,  whom  they  often  subdued  and  rendered  tributary. 
All  the  Finnish  races,  on  either  side  of  the  Baltic  and  within 
the  Gulf  of  Finland,  were  also  subdued  by  the  Swedes.  In- 
dications of  solitary  expeditions  having  been  made  into  Rus- 
sia, even  in  pagan  times,  for  the  purpose  of  discovering  an- 
cient Asgard,  or  Caucasus,  still  exist  ^  the  body-guard  of  the 
Greek  emperors  was  also  formed  from  similar  wanderers  who 
reached  Constantinople,  and  who,  like  the  Gothic  body-guard 
of  earlier  times,  in  the  same  city,  were  named  Varingians, 
and  were  always  recruited  by  fresh  adventurers,  who  trav- 
ersed Russia  or  the  seas.  The  Russians,  at  that  period  the 
most  barbarous  of  the  Slavonian  nations,  became,  by  these 
means,  acquainted  with  the  brave  Norsemen;  and  their  his- 


312  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

tory,  according  to  the  Chronicle  of  the  monk  Nestor,  com- 
mences with  a  unanimous  resolution,  on  the  part  of  the  peo- 
ple, to  elect  a  Knees  or  ruler,  but  as  none  of  the  nation  was 
deemed  worthy  of  the  elevation,  they  invited  the  Norsemen 
into  the  country,  and  elected  a  gigantic  warrior,  named 
Ruric,  a  heathen,  for  their  Knaes,  who  in  this  manner  be- 
came the  founder  of  the  Russian  empire.  Like  the  rest  of 
his  countrymen  throughout  ancient  Russia,  he  was  named  a 
Warager,  a  term  synonymous  with  that  of  Varingian. 


THE    CARLOVINGIANS  313 

SECOND  PERIOD 
THE    MIDDLE    AGES 

Zwei  swert  liez  Got  in  ertrfche  zu  beschirmene  dy  cnstenheit,  dem  papste 
das  geistliche,  dem  keiser  das  werltliche. — SACHSENSPIEGEL. 


PART   VIII 
THE  CARLOVINGIANS 


CXXVI.   Louis  the  Pious  and  his  Sons 

THE  Middle  Ages  commenced  with  the  German  empire. 
The  struggle  between    paganism   and   Christianity 
ceased,  and  the  church  of  the  new  era,  which,  for 
seven  succeeding  centuries,  has  imposed  its  mysteries  upon 
the  nations  of  Germany,  was  triumphantly  raised  hy  the 
newly-acquired  power  of  the  emperor  and  the  pope. 

The  period  immediately  subsequent  to  the  reign  of  Char- 
lemagne was  troubled  and  gloomy.  The  scepter  wielded  by 
the  Carlovingian  monarchs,  who  had  ever  proved  themselves 
the  greatest  men  of  their  times,  was  now  held  by  the  feeble 
hand  of  Louis,  the  youngest,  the  most  incapable,  and  the 
only  surviving  son  of  the  great  emperor,  who  long  and 
deeply  deplored  the  loss  of  Charles  and  Pipin.  Pipin  left  a 
son,  named  Bernhard,  to  whom  Charlemagne  intrusted  the 
government  of  Italy,  and  in  whose  favor,  as  successor  to 
the  imperial  crown,  a  strong  party  was  formed  at  court  by 
the  most  influential  among  the  nobility,  headed  by  Wala,  a 
descendant  of  Charles  Martell;  but  Charlemagne,  equally 
unbiased  by  their  wishes  as  he  was  unmoved  by  his  own 
inclination,  declared  his  son,  Louis,  his  heir.  This  emperor 
GERMANY.  VOL.  I. — 14 


THE    HISTORY   OF    GERMANY 

no  sooner  mounted  the  throne  than  he  revenged  himself  on 
Bernhard's  party,  confined  Wala  in  a  monastery,  caused 
Odoin  the  Brave,  his  sister's  lover,  to  be  assassinated,  and 
replaced  his  father's  gay  and  witty  courtiers  with  devotees, 
by  whom  he  was  led  to  favor  the  interests  of  the  pope.  The 
guiltless  Bernhard,  perceiving  the  danger  with  which  he 
was  momentarily  threatened,  at  first  showed  a  disposition  to 
rebel,  but  instantly  submitted  on  receiving  through  the  Em- 
press Irmingarde  an  assurance  of  pardon,  and  a  safe  con- 
duct from  Louis,  and  came  unarmed  to  Chalons  in  order  to 
do  homage  to  the  faithless  emperor,  who  caused  his  eyes 
to  be  torn  from  their  sockets  in  so  barbarous  a  manner  that 
he  expired  within  a  few  days.  No  sooner,  however,  had 
Louis  thus  glutted  his  revenge  than,  struck  with  remorse  for 
his  crime,  rendered  doubly  poignant  by  grief  for  the  death 
of  Irmingarde,  A.D.  818,  he  evinced  a  desire  to  abdicate  his 
throne,  and  to  seclude  himself  within  a  cloister,  but  was 
dissuaded  by  the  priests.  The  pope,  Stephen,  who  had  in- 
stigated him  against  Bernhard,  presented  him  with  a  crown, 
in  return  for  which  he  thrice  humbly  prostrated  himself  at 
the  feet  of  the  pontiff,  whose  successor,  Paschal,  encouraged 
by  this  act  of  humility,  caused  himself  to  be  elected  without 
receiving  the  ratification  of  a  sovereign  before  whom  both 
he  and  the  clergy  deemed  it  no  longer  necessary  to  cringe, 
and  who,  bending  deferentially  before  them,  implicitly 
yielded  to  their  tyranny  and  imposed  penances,  from  a  su- 
perstitious belief  that  the  salvation  of  his  soul  depended  on 
an  unconditional  submission,  and  on  unlimited  grants  to  the 
church.  Wala  said  that  the  emperor  took  k>o  deep  a  con- 
cern in  spiritual,  and  the  pope,  in  temporal,  matters. 

Louis  resembled  his  father  in  the  gigantic  size  of  his  per- 
son, and  in  his  skill  in  warlike  sports  and  exercises,  but  the 
narrowness  of  his  mind  and  his  pusillanimity  contrasted 
strikingly  with  the  genius  of  his  great  progenitor.  Hence 
arose  the  aversion  manifested  toward  him  by  the  laity,  and 
the  arrogance  of  the  clergy.  Devoid  of  intellect,  irresolute, 
Yid  weak,  he  was  ever  swayed  by  passion  or  prejudice  to  do 


THE   CARLOVINGIANS  315 

the  wrong  he  dreaded,  which  was  ever  followed  by  remorse, 
whose  stings  he  sought  to  allay  by  a  mean  submission  to  his 
spiritual  advisers,  who,  far  from  favoring  his  desire  for  seclu- 
sion, surrounded  him  with  the  most  beautiful  of  the  daugh- 
ters of  the  nobility,  and  at  length  induced  him  to  wed  the 
Bavarian,  Jutta,  of  the  race  of  the  Welfi,  A.D.  819,  who,  by 
her  skill  and  beauty,  gained  unbounded  influence  over  him, 
and  whose  policy  being  to  render  herself  universally  beloved, 
conciliated  Bernhard's  adherents,  and  recalled  "Wala,  who, 
meanwhile,  had  been  chosen  abbot  of  Corvey,  to  court, 
Louis,  on  his  part,  performing  a  solemn  penance  at  Altigny, 
A.D.  822,  and  making  a  public  protestation  of  repentance  for 
the  murder  of  his  relative,  before  the  assembled  Diet. 

A  trait,  strongly  characteristic  of  the  times,  recorded  by 
the  Saxon  annalist,  strikingly  demonstrates  the  objection 
prevailing  among  the  upholders  of  ancient  German  liberty 
to  the  imposition  of  the  new  feudal  system.  Ethico,  the 
Alemann,  the  father  of  Jutta,  forbade  his  son  Henry  to 
hold  any  lands  in  fee  from  the  Frankish  monarch;  but 
Henry  allowing  himself  to  be  persuaded  by  his  sister  to 
hold  as  much  land  in  fee  as  he  could  drive  over  with  a 
golden  plow  during  the  emperor's  sleep,  the  old  man's  an- 
cestral pride  and  love  of  the  ancient  rights  of  his  family  were 
so  deeply  wounded  that  he  concealed  himself  for  the  remainder 
of  his  life  in  the  Schwarzwald. 

"While  these  events  were  taking  place  at  court,  the  rebel- 
lious Bretons  and  Basques,  the  Norsemen,  Obotrites,  the 
Croatian  Slavi,  and  Bulgarians,1  were  successfully  driven 
from  the  frontiers.  Harald,  the  Danish  king,  came  to  the 
court  of  Louis  and  was  baptized.2  He  was  afterward  ex- 
pelled by  his  subjects.  St.  Anscar,  regardless  of  danger  and 

1  Balderich,  duke  of  Friuli,  was  deprived  in  827  of  his  dignity,  on  account  of 
his  incapacity ;  the  dukedom  was  dissolved,  and  divided  among  Granzgrafen,  or 
governors  of  the  frontier. 

4  Archbishop  Ebbo  of  Rheims  was  the  first  and  most  active  of  the  mission- 
aries in  Holstein.  His  attempts,  however,  failed.  Two  of  his  disciples  who 
were  by  chance  passing  Windbergen  in  the  country  of  the  Dithmarsi  on  Wodan's 
day  were  struck  by  lightning,  and  the  people  imagining  this  occurrence  to  be  a 
sign  of  the  wrath  of  their  ancient  god,  Ebbo  lost  all  his  followers. 


316  THE  HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

opposition,  continued  to  carry  on  the  work  of  conversion  in 
the  North,  and  became  the  first  bishop  of  Hamburg,  A.D.  834. 

In  Spain,  the  Moors  made  unopposed  an  inroad  into  the 
French  territory ;  and  Graf  Bonif  acius  of  Corsica  undertook 
an  expedition  against  Africa,  whence,  after  fighting  five  bat- 
tles near  Carthage,  he  returned,  crowned  with  glory. 

Louis  traveled  through  the  empire,  in  order  to  visit  the 
churches.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  he  founded  the  bish- 
opric of  Hildesheim.1  Several  new  monasteries  were  also 
founded  during  his  reign,  the  most  noted  of  which  were 
those  of  Corvey,  A.D.  822,  Hervorden,  Murhard,  Schwarzach, 
Hirsau,  Gandersheim,  Quedlinburg,  etc.  At  a  synod  held 
at  Paris  he  also  reintroduced  the  worship  of  images  and  pict- 
ures, A.D.  825,  which  had  been  prohibited  by  Charlemagne. 

Louis  had  three  sons  by  Irmingarde,  Lothar,  Pipin,  and 
Louis,  between  whom  he  divided  his  empire,  before  his  sec- 
ond marriage,  in  the  manner  they  were  to  possess  it  after  his 
death.  Lothar  was  to  be  invested  with  the  imperial  dignity, 
and  to  possess  Italy  and  the  Rhine  country  as  far  as  the  sea, 
while  Pipin  was  to  reign  to  the  westward  over  France,  and 
Louis  to  the  east  over  Germany.  Jutta,  however,  bore  a 
fourth  son,  Charles,  surnamed  the  Bald,  who  became  the 
favorite  of  the  old  emperor,  and  a  new  division  of  the  em- 
pire, A.D.  829,  by  which  the  eldest  sons  were  wronged,  was 
made  in  his  favor.  An  unnatural  spectacle,  that  of  the  sons 
rebelling  against  their  father,  was  now  beheld  by  the  people, 
who,  although  horror-struck  at  the  cause  of  the  war,  willingly 
lent  their  aid  against  a  sovereign  they  despised.  Temporal 
power  decayed,  and  the  popes  took  advantage  of  the  uni- 
versal confusion  to  increase  their  influence  and  to  extend 
their  dominion  over  the  minds  of  the  people. 

"Wala,  who  resided  with  Lothar  in  Italy,  equally  opposed 
the  worthless  old  emperor  and  the  division  of  the  empire. 
The  union  of  the  empire  under  one  energetic  sovereign  was 

1  According  to  the  legend,  Louis  found  a  blooming  rose-tree  in  the  midst  of 
the  snow,  on  the  spot  on  which  he  afterward  caused  the  cathedral  of  Hildesheim 
to  be  erected. 


THE   CARLOVINGIANS  317 

his  most  ardent  wish,  and  he  sought  to  rouse  Lothar  to  emu- 
late the  great  deeds  of  his  grandsire ;  but  this  prince,  although 
fond  of  power,  was  too  spiritless  for  any  undertaking  demand- 
ing intellect  and  energy,  and  Wala's  grand  plan  degenerated 
to  wretched  intrigues.  The  three  brethren  leagued  together, 
took  their  father  prisoner  at  Compiegne,  and  accused  their 
stepmother,  Jutta,  of  adultery  with  the  Markgraf  Bernhard 
of  Barcelona,  and  of  having  bunded  the  emperor  by  her  mag- 
ical arts,  A.D.  830.  Pipin  and  Louis,  however,  quickly  de- 
serted Lothar,  who  grasped  at  sole  sovereignty,  and  leagued 
with  their  father  against  him,  A.D.  831.  A  negotiation  took 
place  between  the  contending  parties  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  at 
which  Lothar  had  the  weakness  to  sue  for  pardon,  and  the 
perfidy  to  condemn  his  friends  and  his  faithful  adviser,  "Wala, 
to  death,  with  his  own  mouth.  Wala  escaped  with  his  life, 
but  was  dragged  by  the  emperor,  who  feared  his  talents, 
from  one  cloistered  prison  to  another.  Jutta  was  solemnly 
declared  innocent,  and  Graf  Bernhard  was  compelled  to  quit 
the  court. 

No  sooner  had  Jutta  gained  this  victory  than  she  at- 
tempted to  secure  the  chief  part  of  the  immense  inheritance 
to  her  son  Charles,  a  project  which  again  induced  Pipin  and 
Louis  to  league  with  Lothar  for  the  exclusion  of  their  half- 
brother.  The  pope,  Gregory  IV.,  foreseeing  that  the  life  of 
the  emperor  was  drawing  to  its  close,  and  that  it  was  to  the 
interest  of  the  church  to  favor  the  stronger  party,  became 
their  ally.  Pipin  was  the  first  to  quarrel  with  his  father, 
who  deprived  him  of  Aquitania,  which  he  bestowed  upon 
Charles,  and  the  three  brethren  marched  against  their  par- 
ent at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army,  which  encamped  on  the 
Sigwaldsberg,  near  Colmar.  The  emperor  was  at  Worms. 
Long  negotiations  took  place,  and  even  the  pope  hesitated 
to  give  the  signal  for  attack,  when  Wala  arrived  on  the 
scene  of  action  and  decided  the  affair.  The  pope  was  sent 
to  the  emperor  to  demand  his  submission,  while  the  allegi- 
ance of  the  imperial  army  was  attempted  to  be  shaken ;  and 
before  Louis  had  come  to  a  decision,  his  followers  deserted 


318  THE   HISTORY    OF   GERMANY 

him  to  a  man,  during  the  night  of  the  29th  of  June,  833,  and 
he  was  obliged  to  yield  himself  prisoner  to  his  sons.  The 
field  where  this  took  place  was  known  until  a  very  late 
period  as  the  Field  of  Lies  (Lugenfeld).  Public  opinion 
condemned  both  father  and  sons,  but  the  clergy  and  the 
great  vassals  found  (as  at  an  earlier  period  under  the  Mero- 
vingians) these  family  dissensions  profitable,  and  on  that 
account  encouraged  and  augmented  the  discord  that  pre- 
vailed. 

The  emperor  was  carried  to  a  monastery  at  Soissons, 
where  Lothar  caused  him  to  do  penance,  kneeling  on  a  hair 
cloth,  and  in  that  position  to  read  a  paper  in  which  he  ac- 
cused himself  of  perjury,  murder,  and  theft,  of  having  been 
deceived  by  Jutta's  witchcraft,  etc.  He  was  also  deprived 
of  his  arms,  in  order  to  render  him  unworthy  of  bearing  the 
imperial  dignity,  but  in  spite  of  every  threat  he  could  not 
be  induced  to  take  the  vow  that  separated  him  from  the 
world,  from  a  secret  hope  of  a  second  release,1  which  did 
not  long  tarry :  the  jealousy  of  Pipin  and  Louis  was  again 
roused  by  Lothar's  superior  power,  and  they  once  more 
leagued  against  him,  under  the  pretext  that  they  could  not 
countenance  the  ill-treatment  of  their  father,  whom  Lothar 
was  forced  to  restore  to  liberty  and  to  the  throne,  A.D.  834. 
The  released  emperor  now  divided  the  empire  between  Pipin, 
Louis,  and  Charles,  to  the  exclusion  of  Lothar.  The  Nor- 
mans attacked  Priesland  with  fire  and  sword,9  and  the  Moors 
crossed  the  Spanish  frontier,  while  a  Moorish  fleet  landed  in 
Provence  and  plundered  Marseilles;  occurrences  by  which 
the  emperor,  whose  thoughts  were  solely  occupied  in  pro- 
viding an  inheritance  for  his  favorite  son,  by  a  new  division, 
remained  unmoved.  For  this  purpose  he  attempted  to  bribe 
the  Germans  by  a  gift,  deemed  in  those  times  of  inestimable 

1  Bishop  Drogo,  of  Metz,  a  natural  son  of  Charlemagne,  ever  evinced  such 
fidelity  to  the  emperor  that  he  made  him  his  confidant  and  confessor,  and  died 
in  his  arms. 

2  The  exiled  Harald  had  received  Rustriugerland  from  the  emperor  in  fee, 
but  was  killed  by  the  Priaii,  who  believed  that  he  had  invited  the  Danes  into 
their  country.     Heligoland  was  also  at  this  period  taken  by  the  Danes. 


THE   CARLOVINGIANS  319 

value,  the  relics  of  St.  Vitus,  which  he  caused  to  be  borne, 
in  836,  in  a  solemn  procession  from  Paris  to  the  monastery 
of  Corvey,  founded  by  St.  Anscar,  in  826,  in  "Westphalia.1 
Countless  multitudes  accompanied  the  procession  in  its  prog- 
ress through  the  empire ;  the  Parisians  wept  at  the  departure 
of  the  sacred  bones,  while  the  Saxons  hailed  their  arrival  with 
festive  joy.  The  sons  of  Louis,  however,  were  not  disturbed 
in  their  plans  by  this  occurrence.  Lothar,  who  had  with- 
drawn to  Italy,  and  whose  adviser,  "Wala,  was  dead,  had 
an  interview  at  Trient  with  his  brother  Louis  (surnamed  the 
German,  or  the  Bavarian,  in  order  to  distinguish  him  from 
his  father),  probably  with  the  design  of  warning  him  against 
Jutta's  fresh  projects.  Jutta  instantly  accused  Louis  of  con- 
spiring with  Lothar,  and  established  an  alliance  between 
Pipin  and  Charles,  who  agreed  to  divide  the  empire  into 
two  equal  parts,  and  to  force  Lothar  and  Louis  to  submit. 
Shortly  after  this,  Pipin  died,  and  Jutta,  perceiving  her  in- 
ability to  support  the  claims  she  had  arrogated  for  her  son, 
entered  into  a  negotiation  with  Lothar,  who,  with  character- 
istic perfidy,  consented  to  divide  the  empire  with  Charles  to 
the  exclusion  of  Louis,  and  of  his  nephew  Pipin,  the  son  of 
his  deceased  brother.  "While  these  wretched  intrigues  were 
being  carried  on,  the  emperor  expired,  A.D.  840,  on  an  island 
in  the  Rhine,  near  Ingelheim,  shouting  with  his  latest  breath, 
like  the  huntsmen,  "Hutz!  Hutz!"  in  order  to  scare  the  devil 
from  his  bedside. 

Louis  was  no  sooner  dead  than  Charles  discovered  that 
Lothar,  instead  of  placing  him  on  an  equal  footing,  would 
merely  tolerate  him  as  an  inferior ;  he  accordingly  deserted 
him,  and  entered  into  a  compact  with  Louis  the  German, 
with  whom  he  thought  more  easily  to  divide  the  empire,  as 
Louis  laid  no  claim  to  the  title  of  emperor.  The  new  con- 

1  This  saint,  at  a  still  later  period,  greatly  conduced  to  the  conversion  of  the 
Slavi,  by  the  same  honors  being  paid  to  him  which  were  formerly  a  part  of  the 
worship  offered  to  Swantewit,  their  ancient  deity ;  and  so  late  as  a  century  ago, 
the  peasants  in  the  country  around  Ratisbon  annually  offered  cocks  on  the  altar 
of  St.  Vitus,  as  nad  been  their  custom  a  thousand  years  earlier,  when  pagans, 
to  offer  them  on  that  of  Swantowit. 


820  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMAN? 

federates  now  took  up  arms  against  Lothar  and  young  Pipin, 
who  were  defeated  in  a  great  battle  that  took  place  on  the 
25th  of  June,  841,  near  Fontenay,  in  Burgundy.  One  hun- 
dred thousand  men  fell  in  this  worthless  cause,  and  the  no- 
bility was  so  thinned  that  for  long  after  it  was  deemed  nec- 
essary when  a  freeman  wedded  a  noble  lady  to  raise  him  to 
her  rank  in  order  to  repair  the  loss. 

Lothar  fled  to  Aix-la-Chapelle,  turned  the  great  silver 
tables  of  Charlemagne  into  coin,  and  proclaimed  throughout 
Saxony  that  all  the  Edelings  should  be  deprived  of  their 
lands,  and  that  the  Frilings  and  Lazzi,  who  since  the  time 
of  Charlemagne  had  been  subordinate  to  them,  should  be 
restored  to  their  ancient  privileges.  The  Saxons  rose  in 
crowds,  formed  the  Stellinga  (restorers)  confederacy,  and 
expelled  not  only  the  Edelings,  but  also  the  priests,  pagan- 
ism being  still  rife  among  the  commonalty.  Victory,  never- 
theless, still  favored  the  arms  of  Louis  and  Charles,  who  on 
the  14th  of  February,  842,  took  a  federative  oath  at  Strass- 
burg,  which  was  loudly  repeated  by  their  respective  armies; 
by  that  of  Louis  the  German,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine, 
in  the  German  language,  and  by  that  of  Charles,  on  the  left 
bank,  in  the  Roman  tongue.  At  the  same  time,  the  two 
confederates  had  the  cunning  to  call  a  synod  of  bishops,  be- 
fore which  they  accused  their  brother  Lothar  of  protecting 
paganism ;  and,  as  the  Stellinga  was  naturally  held  in  abomi- 
nation by  all  the  temporal  lords,  who  feared  lest  the  example 
of  the  Saxon  peasantry  might  influence  their  vassals  and  en- 
danger the  feudal  system,  they  flocked  hi  crowds  beneath  the 
standard  of  the  two  brothers ;  and  Lothar,  finding  himself 
solely  upheld  by  the  Saxons,  deserted  them  with  his  usual 
perfidy,  and  made  his  treacherous  betrayal  of  them  a  means 
of  reconciliation  with  his  brothers.  While  he  was  carrying 
on  this  negotiation  with  them  in  France,  Louis  suddenly 
marched  into  Saxony,  and  after  defeating  the  confederates, 
treated  the  chiefs  of  the  Stellinga  with  unexampled  cruelty, 
causing  fourteen  of  them  to  be  hanged,  one  hundred  and 
forty  to  be  beheaded,  and  innumerable  others  to  have  their 


THE   OARLOVINOIANS  321 

hands  chopped  off.  Thus  terminated  the  first  great  struggle 
of  one  class  against  the  others,  of  the  nobility  against  the 
peasantry. 

The  treaty  of  Verdun,  A.D.  843,  concluded  between  the 
three  brethren,  rewarded  Lothar's  treachery  with  the  impe- 
rial crown,  and  an  extensive  territory,  including  the  Neth- 
erlands, the  Rhine  country,  Burgundy,  and  Italy,  which 
received  the  name  of  Lothringia  (Lotharingien,  Lotharii 
regnum).  Louis  the  German  received,  as  his  portion,  all 
the  country  lying  to  the  right  of  the  new  empire,  and  the 
title  of  a  German  king;  and  Charles  the  Bald  was  created 
king  of  France. 

While  these  negotiations  and  the  war  with  Saxony  were 
being  carried  on,  the  Norsemen  reappeared  and  plundered 
the  coasts  of  the  Baltic ;  at  the  same  time,  the  Moors  landed 
in  the  south  and  sacked  the  town  of  Aries;  the  Bretons  also 
again  rebelled.  Bernard,  Markgraf  of  Barcelona,  was  seized 
and  executed  by  order  of  Charles  the  Bald,'  under  pretext  of 
disloyalty,  but  more  probably  on  account  of  his  former  inter- 
course with  the  empress  Jutta.  Lothar  died  in  855,  and  di- 
vided Lothringia  among  his  three  sons,  who  did  not  long 
survive  him.  The  only  one  of  any  importance  was  the  sec- 
ond son,  Lothar  II.,  who,  by  divorcing  his  wife  Thietberga, 
and  wedding  the  beautiful  Walrade,  afforded  an  opportunity 
to  the  pope,  Nicholas  L,  to  exert  his  authority.  The  mar- 
riage with  "Walrade  was,  by  his  influence,  annulled  by  the 
council  at  Metz,  A.D.  863,  and  Hugo  the  son  of  Walrade  was 
declared  incapable  of  succeeding  to  the  crown.  Lothar,  upon 
this,  divorced  Walrade,  but  shortly  afterward  remarried  her. 
His  brother,  Louis  II.,  protected  Benevento  (which  at  that 
time  was  divided  into  the  three  little  dukedoms  of  Bene- 
vento, Salerno,  and  Capua,  and  had  greatly  sunk  in  impor- 
tance) against  the  Moors,  who  had  taken  possession  of  Rome, 
and  had  converted  the  church  of  St.  Peter  into  a  stable. 

1  According  to  another  account,  Charles  is  said  to  have  stabbed  him  with 
his  own  hand,  and  to  have  spurned  the  corpse  with  his  foot,  although  they 
resembled  each  other  so  strongly  that  every  one  believed  them  to  be  father  and 
son. 


THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

Louis  the  German  was,  meanwhile,  fully  occupied  in  re- 
pelling the  attacks  of  the  Slavi,  who  took  advantage  of  the 
internal  dissensions  in  the  empire  to  rise  en  masse  on  all 
sides.  The  Obotrites  set  the  example  in  the  North.  Louis 
put  their  prince,  Gozzomvil,  to  death,  A.D.  844,  and  placed 
an  able  man,  named  Tachulf,  as  Markgraf  hi  Thuringia. 
This  brave  man  long  waged  war  with  the  Slavi,  and  it  is 
related  of  him  that  once,  although  desperately  wounded,  he 
gave  audience  to  the  Slavian  embassadors,  seated  on  his  war- 
horse,  without  betraying  a  symptom  of  the  pain  he  suffered. 
The  Germans,  mistrusting  him  on  account  of  his  attempts  to 
conciliate  the  neighboring  Sorbi,  A.D.  849,  ventured  a  battle 
without  him,  and  were  defeated.  The  flying  Thuringians 
are  said  to  have  been  welcomed  by  their  wives  with  blows. 
So  intense  was  the  hatred  between  the  two  nations  that  when 
Chiztibor,  the  prince  of  the  Sorbi,  wished  to  make  terms  with 
the  Germans,  he  was  murdered  by  his  subjects,  A.D.  858. 
Tabamzivil,  prince  of  the  Obotrites,  submitted,  862. 

In  the  South,  the  Bulgarians  attained  considerable  power 
after  the  complete  destruction  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Avari, 
and  advanced  into  the  mountains  of  Croatia.  The  Mark- 
graf, Berthold,  was  defeated  by  them,  A.D.  818;  the  Mark- 
graf, Hathod,  succeeded  in  expelling  them,  but  afterward 
rebelling,  was  deprived  of  his  government.  The  Slavian 
Maharanen,  or  Moravians,  also  rose  under  their  prince, 
Rastiz,  and  began  to  spread  over  their  confines ;  they  and 
their  allies,  the  Bohemians,  were,  however,  so  bravely  re- 
sisted by  the  Markgraf  Ernst,  who  completely  routed  them, 
that  Carlmann,  the  son  of  Louis  the  German,  wedded  his 
daughter  Luitswinda.  In  858,  Carlmann  had  conceived  the 
project  of  a  nearer  alliance  between  the  Slavi  and  the  Ger- 
mans, for  which  a  good  foundation  had  been  laid  in  the 
mountains  by  Graf  Gerold  and  the  bishop  Yirgilius,  and 
for  this  reason  attempted  to  render  himself  independent  of 
his  father,  who  overcame  him,  and  removed  the  Markgraf 
Ernst,  A.D.  863;  upon  this,  Carlmann  allied  himself  with 
Rastiz  of  Moravia,  but  was  again  defeated  by  his  father, 


THE   CARLOVINQIANS  323 

who  nominated  Gunthachar  Markgraf  of  Austria ;  but  this 
Markgraf  making  common  cause  with  Rastiz,  Carlmann 
sought  to  make  amends  for  his  former  derelictions  by 
marching  against  them  on  his  father's  behalf.  He  was 
victorious,  killed  Gunthachar,  and  caused  Rastiz,  who  was 
betrayed  into  his  hands  by  his  nephew,  Suatopluk,  to  be 
deprived  of  sight,  A.D.  870.  Suatopluk  was  kept  in  honor- 
able confinement  at  Ratisbon,  where  he  lived  in  luxury  and 
appeared  to  be  perfectly  resigned  to  his  fate.  Meanwhile, 
the  German  Markgrafs,  "Wilhelm  and  Engelschalk,  treated 
the  Moravians  so  arbitrarily'that  they  rebelled,  and  Suato- 
pluk, under  pretext  of  appeasing  them,  went  among  them, 
but  no  sooner  found  himself  once  more  among  his  country- 
men, than,  loading  the  Germans  with  imprecations,  he  caused 
his  escort  to  be  assassinated.  Two  Bavarian  armies,  sent 
into  Moravia,  were  defeated,  and  Suatopluk  not  only  pre- 
served, but  also  extended  his  dominion,  A.D.  872. 

In  the  meantime,  Louis  the  Younger,  the  second  son  of 
Louis  the  German,  formed  an  alliance  in  Saxony  and  Thu- 
ringia,  with  Rathulf ,  the  son  of  Tachulf,  similar  to  that  be- 
tween Carlmann  and  Ernst,  and  kept  the  Sorbi  and  Bohe- 
mians in  check  on  this  side  of  the  empire.  On  one  occasion 
he  surprised  the  Bohemians  when  engaged  in  a  great  wed- 
ding procession,  and  carried  off  the  bride;  whence  arose  the 
saying, ' ''  No  one  knows  who  may  lead  home  the  bride. ' '  The 
Bohemians  again  rose,  during  a  fresh  incursion  of  the  Norse- 
men into  Germany,  but  were  repulsed  by  Poppo,  Rathulf 's 
successor.  Louis  the  German  died  in  876,  leaving  three 
sons,1  Carlmann,  who  inherited  Bavaria  and  Carinthia, 
Louis  the  Younger,  who  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  Saxony 
and  Thuringia,  and  Charles  the  Thick,  who  reigned  over 


1  And  two  daughters,  Hildegarde,  who  in  her  twenty-first  year  became 
abbess  of  the  convent  founded  by  her  father  at  Zurich,  and  Bertha,  who  suc- 
ceeded her  in  that  dignity.  According  to  the  legend,  they  dwelt  in  the  castle 
of  Baldern,  whence  they  were  led  by  a  stag  bearing  lighted  candles  on  his 
antlers,  to  the  spot  where  the  convent  now  stands.  Their  father  is  also  said  to 
have  resided  at  times  at  Baldern  on  the  Albis. 


324  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

Swabia.  Carlmann  died  in  880,  and  left  an  illegitimate 
son,  named  Arnulf,  who  became  Markgraf  of  Carinthia. 

The  race  of  Lothar  no  sooner  became  extinct  than  a  quar- 
rel arose  for  the  Lothringian  inheritance,  between  Charles 
the  Bald  of  France  and  Louis  the  Younger  of  Germany, 
and  a  bloody  engagement  took  place  near  Andernach  on  the 
Rhine,"  which  proved  disastrous  to  Charles,  who  died  dur- 
ing the  following  year,  A.D.  876,  leaving  an  only  son,  Louis 
the  Stammerer,  who  died  in  879,  and  left  three  sons,  of  whom 
the  youngest,  Charles  the  Simple,  ere  long  only  remained. 

The  natural  result  of  these  repeated  and  manifold  divis- 
ions, was  that  the  Norsemen  and  Arabians  redoubled  their 
daring  attacks  upon  the  empire;  that  in  the  East  a  powerful 
Slavian  kingdom,  unopposed  by  Germany,  arose;  and  that, 
in  the  interior  of  the  empire,  the  power  of  the  pope  on  the 
one  hand,  and  that  of  the  great  vassals  on  the  other,  steadily 
and  surely  increased,  to  the  detriment  of  the  imperial  pre- 
rogative. 

CXXVII.    The  Incursions  of  the  Norsemen 

THE  bold  Norse  pirates  continued  to  disturb  the  empire; 
their  insolence  surpassed  all  belief,  for  not  content  with  plun- 
dering the  coasts,  they  advanced  in  their  small  vessels  up 
the  rivers,  and  suddenly  appeared  far  up  the  country  before 
an  alarm  could  be  given.  Their  path  was  marked  by  heaps 
of  dead  and  ruins.  They  unhesitatingly  attacked  even  forti- 
fied cities,  of  which  they  took  and  destroyed  several  in  France, 
and  many  a  hard  contest  was  fought  by  them  against  armies 
greatly  their  superiors  in  number.  They  always  fought  on 
foot,  and  with  such  extraordinary  activity  as  easily  to  over- 
come the  heavy  cavalry  of  the  French.  If  defeated,  or  in 
danger  of  being  so,  they  hurried  to  their  ships,  which  they 
rowed  with  such  rapidity  as  to  render  pursuit  impossible. 


4  Besides  the  gateway  and  other  Roman  remains,  the  fine  ruins  of  an  ancient 
castle  of  the  Austrasian  kings  are  still  to  be  seen  at  this  town. 


THE   CARLOVINGIANS  325 

So  greatly  and  universally  were  they  feared  that  prayers 
were  read  in  the  churches  for  deliverance  from  them. 

In  841,  headed  by  Ascar,  they  burned  Rouen.  In  843 
they  advanced  up  the  Loire,  but  were  repulsed  in  their  at- 
tempt upon  Tours.  Undeterred  by  this  check,  they  con- 
tinued their  depredations  under  their  savage  leader,  Hast- 
ing, along  the  northern  coasts  of  France,  after  which  they 
ventured  up  the  Garonne  in  order  to  plunder  the  south,  and 
defeated  Totila,  duke  of  Gascony,  but  were  surprised  at 
Tarbes  by  the  peasantry  of  Bigorre,  and  for  the  most  part 
slain.  Notwithstanding  this  disaster,  a  Norse  fleet  ventured 
further  south  in  the  following  year,  plundered  Lisbon,  ad- 
vanced up  the  Guadalquivir  into  Andalusia,  took  Seville, 
and  returned  laden  with  booty.  The  Moors  believed  them 
to  be  evil  wizards.  Emboldened  by  this  success,  they  reap- 
peared in  the  Seine,  and  their  leader,  Regnar,  took  posses- 
sion of  Paris,  whence  Charles  the  Bald  bribed  him  to  depart 
on  payment  of  seven  thousand  pounds  of  silver,  A.D.  845. 
The  Norsemen  then  turned  eastward  toward  Germany,  and 
devastated  Friesland.  The  emperor,  Lothar,  had  the  folly 
again  to  give  up  Rustringerland,  together  with  the  fortress 
of  Dorstad,  to  Rorich,  a  son  of  Harald,  who  had  formerly 
held  them,  on  condition  of  his  guarding  the  country  against 
the  inroads  of  his  countrymen.  The  treaty  was  speedily 
broken.  Gottfried,  Rorich's  brother,  again  plundered  Fries- 
land,  and  advanced  up  the  Loire  as  far  as  Tours,  followed 
by  the  dreaded  Hasting,  who  once  more  took  Paris,  marched 
into  Burgundy,  laid  waste  the  whole  country,  and  finally 
took  possession  of  Tours,  A.D.  853,  where  much  treasure  had 
been  carried  for  safety,  and  which  had  formerly  been  the 
aim  of  those  pirate  hordes.  No  energetic  opposition  was 
made  to  his  advance,  and  his  departure  was  purchased  by 
Charles  the  Bald  with  685  pounds  of  gold,  and  3,250  pounds 
of  silver.  Rome,  ever  clothed  in  fabled  splendor  by  the  im- 
aginative pagans,  now  became  the  aim  of  the  enterprising 
Hasting,  who  sailed  with  a  hundred  ships  through  the  Straits 
of  Gibraltar  and  plundered  the  coasts  of  Spain  and  Africa. 


326  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

On  arriving  in  the  harbor  of  Lucca,  at  that  period  a  city  of 
considerable  importance  and  strongly  fortified,  which  he  mis- 
took for  Rome,  he  found  the  inhabitants  engaged  hi  the  cele- 
bration of  the  Christmas  festival,  and  sending  a  deputation 
of  his  followers  into  the  city,  under  pretext  of  demanding 
an  honorable  burial-place  for  their  chieftain,  whom  they  as- 
serted to  be  dead,  the  unsuspecting  Lombards  permitted  him 
to  be  carried  in  solemn  procession  to  the  church,  where, 
springing  from  "his  coffin,  he  stabbed  the  officiating  bishop 
to  the  heart,  and  at  the  head  of  his  supposed  mourners,  all 
well-armed  freebooters,  sacked  the  city  and  retreated  to  his 
ships,  heavily  laden  with  booty  and  accompanied  by  a  crowd 
of  prisoners,  consisting  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the  women 
and  maidens,  whom  he  afterward  had  the  barbarity  to  throw 
into  the  sea,  together  with  the  plunder,  in  order  to  lighten 
his  vessels  during  a  storm,  a  loss  he  repaired  shortly  after 
by  sailing  up  the  Rhone,  and  laying  the  country  waste  on 
both  sides.  Other  Norse  hordes  also  continually  devastated 
the  north  of  France,  and  forced  Charles  the  Bald  to  purchase 
their  departure  with  3,000  pounds  of  gold,  A.D.  860.  In  the 
year  860,  Hasting  consented  to  be  baptized,  and  to  swear  al- 
legiance to  Charles  on  condition  of  receiving  the  title  of  Count 
of  Chartres. 

Two  German  warriors  who  undertook  to  guard  the  coasts 
are  particularly  remarkable.  Baldwin,  Count  of  Flanders, 
with  the  iron  arm,  seduced  Judith,  the  youthful  daughter 
of  Charles  the  Bald,  who,  nevertheless,  was  the  widow  of 
two  of  the  monarchs  of  England,  of  the  father  of  Ethelwolf, 
and  of  his  son  Ethelbold.  The  discovery  of  their  intercourse 
at  first  greatly  enraged  the  French  king,  who  was,  however, 
finally  induced  to  accept  him  as  his  son-in-law,  and  to  place 
all  the  other  minor  Grafs  in  his  neighborhood  beneath  his 
jurisdiction.  Robert,  surnamed  the  Strong,  a  native  of  Sax- 
ony, who  had  become  Count  of  Maine,  equally  distinguished 
himself  against  the  Norsemen.  He  was  the  ancestor  of  Hugh 
Capet,  who  gave  a  dynasty  to  France.  He  fell  in  a  bloody 
engagement  hi  which  the  Norsemen  were  worsted,  not  far 


THE    CARLOV1NGIANS  327 

from  Anvers,  in  866.  For  some  time  after  this  the  country 
remained  undisturbed,  the  pirates  having  turned  their  atten- 
tion to  England,  where  Alfred,  the  wise  king  of  that  island, 
anxious  for  their  departure  from  his  coasts,  at  length  found 
means  to  persuade  their  leader  Hrolf  (Rollo)  to  re-embark 
for  Germany,  where,  after  defeating  Count  Reinbold  of 
Friesland,  and  taking  Count  Reichard  of  Hennegau  pris- 
oner, in  876,  he  laid  the  French  territory  waste,  until  bribed 
by  Charles  to  depart  with  a  gift  of  5,000  pounds  of  silver, 
A.D.  878.  Another  Norman  horde  under  Gottfried  settled 
at  Ghent  and  took  possession  of  the  castle  of  Haslau.  Gott- 
fried formed  an  alliance  with  Hugo,  the  bastard  of  Lothrin- 
gen,  the  son  of  "Walrade,  and  married  his  sister  Gisela.  Hugo 
had,  until  now,  vainly  aspired  to  the  possession  of  Lothrin- 
gen,  and  had  dwelt  like  a  robber  in  the  forests.  The  Slavi 
appear  to  have  been  also  drawn  into  the  plot.  Some  time 
before  this,  Ludolf  had  been  nominated  Graf  of  Saxony  in 
order  the  better  to  defend  the  coasts  against  the  Norsemen; 
his  brother,  Bruno,  the  founder  of  Braunschweig  (Bruno's 
Wyk),  Brunswick,  marched  at  the  head  of  the  Saxon  arrier- 
ban  against  Gottfried,  but  suffered  a  bloody  defeat  near  Eb- 
bekesdorf,  in  which  he  fell,  together  with  two  bishops  and 
twelve  Grafs.  This  battle  was  foUowed  by  several  others, 
in  which  the  Germans  were  victorious.  Adam  von  Bremen 
relates  that  the  Frisii,  incited  by  their  bishop,  Rembert,  fell 
upon  the  victorious  Norsemen  and  slew  upward  of  10,000  of 
them.  According  to  the  account  of  the  monk  Regino,  the 
German  emperor,  Louis  the  Younger,  gained  a  great  victory 
at  Thimiun  (Thuin  on  the  Sambre),  A.D.  879,  but  did  not  fol- 
low up  his  advantage,  owing  to  his  anxiety  if  possible  to  save 
the  life  of  his  illegitimate  son,  Hugo,  whom  he  believed  a 
prisoner,  but  who  was  afterward  discovered  among  the  slain. 
According  to  other  chroniclers,  this  battle  took  place  in  880, 
and  the  victor  mentioned  is  Louis  of  France,  the  son  of  Louis 
the  Stammerer.1  Both  of  these  monarchs  died  in  882.  The 

1  Adam  von  Bremen  clearly  distinguishes  the  German  Louis  as  victor  shortly 
,before  his  death  from  the  French  Louis,  who  was  at  first  victorious,  but  finally 


328  THE   HISTORY    OF   GERMANY 

Slavian  nations,  the  Sorbi,  Daleminzii,  and  Bohemians,  who, 
after  the  battle  of  Ebbekesdorf,  had  risen  en  masse  and  had 
made  an  inroad  into  Germany,  were  successfully  repulsed 
by  Poppo,  duke  of  Thuringia.  Unable  to  settle  in  German}', 
the  Norsemen,  whom  tyranny  at  home,  as  has  already  been 
mentioned,  had  driven  from  their  native  land,  visited  other 
countries,  where  they  founded  colonies  and  new  kingdoms. 

CXXVIII.    Rise  of  the  great  Vassals  and  of  the  Popes 

CHARLEMAGNE  had  arbitrarily  removed  the  great  dukes 
from  office,  while  he  favored  the  lower  orders  of  the  nobility, 
but  under  the  weak  rule  of  Louis  the  Pious,  and  during  the 
subsequent  partition  of  the  empire  among  his  descendants, 
their  favorites  took  advantage  of  the  discord  that  prevailed 
among  them  to  revive  the  title  of  Duke,  and  to  arrogate  to 
themselves  such  exorbitant  power  that  the  kings  were  forced 
to  purchase  the  fidelity  of  their  vassals  by  valuable  gifts. 
The  dukes  and  Markgrafs,  moreover,  who  defended  the  fron- 
tiers against  the  Norsemen,  the  Moors,  and  the  Slavi,  attained 
considerable  power  by  their  military  achievements. 

The  dukes  of  Lombardy  were  almost  independent  of  the 
emperor.  The  national  hatred  of  the  Italians,  and  the  ambi- 
tion of  the  popes,  supported  them  against  Germany.  They 
had,  however,  to  endure  many  desperate  encounters  with 
the  Moors.  The  dukes  of  Saxony  and  Thuringia  became 
powerful  and  insolent  as  soon  as  they  had  rendered  them- 
selves necessary  to  the  emperor  by  their  exploits  against  the 
Norsemen  and  the  Slavi.  Ludolf,1  duke  of  Saxony,  pro- 


defeated.  Luthewicus  Imperator  (the  Younger)  cum  paganis  dimicans  victor 
exstitit  et  paullo  post  obiit.  Luthewicus  Franciae  rex  (the  son  of  the  Stam- 
merer), victor  et  victus  exstitit.  In  the  Annals  of  Fulda,  under  the  year  881, 
the  latter  is  merely  mentioned.  Regis  Hludowici  nepos  Hludovicus  cum  Nord- 
mannis  dimicans  nobiliter  thriumphavit. 

1  This  duke,  and  his  wife  Oda,  visited  Rome,  where  he  was  highly  favored 
by  the  pope;  he  founded  the  convent  of  Gandersheim,  of  which,  in  853,  he 
made  his  daughter,  Hademoda,  abbess.  These  were  the  first  greetings  of  the 
newly-rising  powers,  the  hierarchy  and  the  feudal  aristocracy,  behind  the  back 
of  the  emperor. 


THE   CARLOVINGIANS  329 

nounced  his  dignity  hereditary,  and  was  succeeded  in  it  by 
his  son.  Otto.  Thuringia  also  retained  its  dukes,  although 
they  were  not  all  of  the  same  race.  Not  long  before  this, 
Count  Baldwin,  with  the  iron  arm,  had  firmly  rooted  his 
family  in  Flanders,  where,  then  as  now,  the  language  was 
half  Gallic  (Walloon,  Neustrian)  and  half  German,  although 
the  country  was  a  Neustrian  or  French  fief. '  In  Swabia,  the 
house  of  the  Welfs  had  already  attained  considerable  impor- 
tance, although  they  enjoyed  no  dignity  under  the  empire. 
In  Bavaria,  Count  Arbo  aspired  to  independence,  and  en* 
tered  into  an  alliance  with  the  Moravian  Suatopluk  (also 
named  Zwentibold),  who,  A.D.  884,  greatly  extended  his  ter- 
ritory. He  was,  however,  forced  to  submit.  Burgundy, 
now  possessed  by  the  Lothringians,  now  by  the  French 
Carlovingians,  asserted  her  independence  after  the  death  of 
Louis  the  Stammerer,  and  raised  one  of  the  native  Grafs, 
Boso  (who  had  seduced  Irmengarde,  the  daughter  of  Louis 
II.,  by  whom  he  was  invited  to  aspire'  to  that  dignity),  at 
Montaille  to  the  throne.  His  popularity  with  his  country- 
men rendered  the  attempts  of  the  weak  Carlovingians  to  dis- 
possess him  of  his  crown  unavailing,  and  he  was  succeeded 
by  his  son  Louis.  He  was  also  upheld  by  the  clergy,  whose 
unity  was  strengthened  by  each  division  of  the  power  of  the 
temporal  rulers. 

Vice  and  unbounded  insolence  already  marked  the  first 
triumphs  of  the  church.  The  history  of  the  infamous  Pope 
Joan  belongs  to  this  epoch.  She  is  said  to  have  been  a  Ger- 
man, named  Jutta,  Gerberta  (several  other  names  are  also 
ascribed  to  her),  who  was  born  at  Ingelheim,  and  received 


1  The  German  and  French  languages  are,  even  at  the  present  day,  bounded 
by  a  line  running  between  two  ranges  of  cities.  Those  on  the  German  side  are: 
Gravelingen,  Winnoxbergen,  Cassel,  Belle,  Meessene,  Meenen,  Cortryc,  Aude- 
narde,  Rense,  Gerardsbergen  (Grammont),  Edingen  (Enghien),  Hal,  Brussels, 
Lyons,  Thienen  (Tirlemont),  St.  Truyden,  Tongern,  Maestricht,  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
Eupen,  St.  Vith,  Reuland,  Vianden,  Diekirch,  Arlon,  and  Luxembourg.  Thoss 
on  the  French  side  are :  Calais,  St.  Omer,  Lille,  Tournay,  Ath,  Nivelles,  Wawre, 
Jodoigne,  Hannut,  Liege,  Verviers  Limburg,  Malmedy,  Houfialize,  Bastoigne, 
Etalle,  Virton,  and  Longwy. 


330  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMAN* 

an  excellent  education  from  her  father,  a  man  of  deep  learn- 
ing. Becoming  enamored  of  a  monk  at  Fulda,  she  disguised 
herself  in  male  attire,  took  the  oath  of  celibacy,  and  joined 
her  lover  in  his  monastery.  They  subsequently  traveled  to- 
gether as  far  as  Greece,  and  Jutta  appeared  at  Athens  in  the 
character  of  a  public  teacher.  Here  her  lover  died.  She, 
however,  gradually  rose  from  one  dignity  to  another,  and 
was  finally  elected  pope,  when  she  took  another  lover.  Dur- 
ing her  pregnancy,  according  to  the  legend,  an  angel  prom- 
ised her  forgiveness  for  her  crime  if  she  would  consent  to 
publish  her  shame  before  the  assembled  people,  and  she  was 
accordingly  delivered  during  a  great  and  solemn  procession. 
She  was  named  Pope  John  VIII. 

Nicolas  I.,  who  filled  the  papal  chair  in  858,  greatly  ex- 
tended the  already  firmly-rooted  power  of  the  church.  His 
annulment  of  the  marriage  of  Lothar  II.  and  Walrade,  and 
his  declaration  of  the  illegitimacy  of  their  son,  proved  the 
superiority  of  the  authority  of  the  pope  over  that  of  the  em- 
peror. As  a  means  of  placing  the  papal  power  on  a  firmer 
basis,  he  either  fabricated  or  sanctioned  the  fabrication  of  the 
false  decretals  which  issued  from  Mayence,  a  city  which, 
since  the  time  of  St.  Bonif  acius,  had  remained  in  close  alli- 
ance with  Rome.  It  was  one  of  the  principal  repositories  of 
theological  learning,  and  it  was  hence  that  the  German  dea- 
con, Benedictus  Levita,  promulgated  a  collection  of  church 
ordinances  or  decretals,  which  declared  the  pope  the  abso- 
lute sovereign  of  the  church,  set  him  above  the  councils, 
made  the  nomination  of  all  the  bishops  to  depend  upon  him 
alone,  reserved  to  him  the  decision  in  all  clerical  matters, 
and  even  in  all  trivial  affairs  left  the  appeal  open  to  him. 
In  order  to  furnish  these  decretals  with  a  respectable  an- 
tiquity, and  to  give  them  the  validity  of  laws  more  vener- 
able than  the  imperial  dignity,  their  original  composition 
was  falsely  ascribed  to  St.  Isidorus,  a  Spaniard,  who  lived 
in  the  seventh  century,  and  their  authenticity  was  asserted 
by  Nicolas,  who  founded  upon  them  the  universal  dominion 
of  the  papal  tiara.  He  died  in  867,  and  was  succeeded  by 


THE  CARLOVINQIAN8  331 

Hadrian,  who  pursued  the  policy  of  his  predecessor.     The 
popes,  his  successors,  were  weak  and  licentious. 

There  were,  besides  Benedictus  Levita  and  his  popish 
party,  several  other  German  theologians,  far  more  distin- 
guished for  learning,  who  were  not  all  subservient  to  Rome. 
The  school  founded  by  Alcuin  had  the  reputation  of  being 
free  in  its  opinions  and  spirit.  His  disciples  taught  at  May- 
ence,  Fulda,  Corvey,  St.  Gall,  Reichenau,  Priim,  "Weissen- 
burg,  etc.,  and  in  the  monastic  academies,  and  a  dispute 
arose  between  those  most  noted  among  them,  which  may 
be  regarded  as  the  germ  whence  sprang  the  controversy  of 
later  times  between  Catholicism,  Lutherism,  and  Calvinism. 
Paschasius  Radbert,  for  instance,  a  monk  of  Corvey,  an  en* 
thusiastic  and  imaginative  man,  defended  the  real  presence 
of  Christ  in  the  eucharist,  the  worship  of  the  "Virgin  Mary, 
and  that  of  images  and  pictures,  in  a  word,  all  that  influ- 
enced the  senses  in  the  worship  of  God ;  his  doctrine  became 
the  prevailing  one  in  the  Middle  Ages;  he  it  was  who  first 
aroused  that  romantic  enthusiasm  which  rendered  the  mother 
of  the  Saviour  the  ideal  of  beauty,  the  mystic  deity  of  every 
heart.  Rhabanus  Maurus,  archbishop  of  Mayence,  the  most 
famous  and  the  most  learned  of  Alcuin's  disciples,  sought, 
on  the  contrary,  to  develop  the  minds  of  his  followers  instead 
of  exciting  their  imaginations,  and  demanded,  like  Luther, 
not  only  free  inquiry,  and  the  free  use  of  reason  and  philoso- 
phy, but  also  the  introduction  of  the  German  language  into 
the  church  service.  Gottschalk,  finally,  a  monk  of  Fulda, 
asserted,  like  Calvin,  the  predestination  of  each  individual 
to  salvation  or  damnation,  and  completely  denied  the  exist- 
ence of  free-will  and  of  meritorious  deeds.  Rhabanus  op- 
posed both  sectarians,  but  only  succeeded  in  overcoming 
Gottschalk.  This  poor  monk,  a  native  of  Saxony,  with  an 
imagination  still  fired  by  enthusiastic  feelings,  roused  by  his 
late  conversion  to  Christianity,  obstinately  adhered  to  a  doc- 
trine for  which  he  pined  twenty-one  years  in  prison.  Rad- 
bert's  poetical  belief,  on  the  other  hand,  gained,  in  union 
with  the  false  decretals,  the  victory  over  the  free-spirited 


332  THE  HISTORY  OF  GERMANY 

efforts  of  Rhabanus,  and  although  several  distinguished  dis- 
ciples of  the  latter  continued  to  assert  the  right  of  free  in- 
quiry, and  to  demand  the  introduction  of  the  German  lan- 
guage into  the  church  service,  they  were  unable  to  stem  the 
popular  current,  or  to  oppose  the  increasing  power  of  the 
popes,  who  alone  tolerated  a  blind  belief  and  the  use  of 
the  Latin  tongue. 

Among  the  last  champions  of  mental  freedom,  Walafried 
Strabo,  abbot  of  Reichenau,  distinguished  himself,  like  his 
master,  Rhabanus,  by  a  glossary  in  the  German  language, 
and  by  manuals  on  general  knowledge ;  Atf  ried  of  "Weissen- 
burg,  by  the  composition  of  an  evangelical  harmony  in  Ger- 
man, the  History  of  Christ  in  verse,  which  however  does  not 
possess  the  poetical  merit  of  "der  Heliand,"  "the  Saviour," 
a  poem  that  not  long  ago  became  known;  Notker  Labeo 
of  St.  Gall,  by  his  German  Psalms,  and  Willeram,  abbot  of 
Ebersberg,  by  a  Paraphrase  of  the  Song  of  Solomon.  Rhe- 
gino,  abbot  of  Prum,  wrote  a  universal  chronicle,  and  be- 
sides Eginhart,  who  has  already  been  mentioned,  an  un- 
known monk  from  St.  Gall,  and  the  so-called  Saxon  poet 
(poeta  Saxo),  recorded  the  deeds  of  Charlemagne.  Thega- 
nus,  bishop  of  Treves,  was  the  biographer  of  Louis  the 
Pious,  and  the  dissensions  of  his  sons  were  chronicled  by 
Nithard,  the  grandson  of  Charlemagne.  The  Annals  of 
Fulda  are  also  a  celebrated  German  historical  work  of  the 
ninth  century.  There  are,  moreover,  several  biographies  of 
different  saints  and  churchmen ;  for  instance,  that  of  Wala. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  the  prophetess,  Theoda  of  Con- 
stance, who  announced  the  near  coming  of  Christ,  was  sen- 
tenced by  the  council  of  Mayence  to  be  beaten  as  an  impostor 
with  stripes ;  while  the  hermit  Meinhard,  who  was  murdered 
by  robbers'  "in  the  dark  forest,"  was  canonized  by  the 
church,  and  the  celebrated  monastery  of  Einsiedeln  in  Switz- 
erland was  raised  over  his  tomb. 


1  They  were  betrayed  by  ravens,  as  the  murderers  of  Ibycus  were  by  cranes. 


THE    CABLOVINGIANS  333 


CXXIX.    Charles  the  Thick  and  Arnulf 

CHARLES  THE  THICK,  the  youngest  of  the  sons  of  Louis 
the  German,  inherited  in  882,  on  the  death  of  his  childless 
brother,  Louis  the  Younger,  all  the  German  and  Lothringian 
territory,  with  the  exception  of  Burgundy;  and  in  884,  also 
France,  properly  the  inheritance  of  Charles  the  Simple, 
whose  two  elder  brothers  were  dead,  but  who,  being  the 
issue  of  a  marriage  pronounced  illegal  by  the  pope,  and,  on 
account  of  his  imbecility,  being  recognized  by  the  French 
themselves  as  incapable  of  succeeding  to  the  throne,  Charles 
the  Thick  easily  took  possession  of  the  country,  and  before 
long  reunited  France  with  Germany,  in  which  he  was  greatly 
assisted  by  the  pope,  to  whom  he  secretly  made  great  conces- 
sions, in  order  to  be  acknowledged  by  him  as  legitimate  heir 
to  the  crown. 

Charles  the  Thick  was  good-natured  and  indolent.  His 
favorite  project,  the  restoration  of  the  empire  as  it  stood 
under  Charlemagne,  he  sought  to  realize  by  means  of  bribes 
and  promises,  treaties  of  peace  and  other  transactions,  per- 
fectly in  conformity  with  his  character,  in  which  he  ever 
unhesitatingly  sacrificed  honor  to  interest.  The  same  means 
that  had  succeeded  with  the  pope  he  imagined  would  prove 
equally  successful  in  treating  with  the  Norsemen,  who,  after 
the  death  of  Louis  the  Younger,  renewed  their  depredations 
under  Gottfried,  and  laid  the  Rhine  country  waste.  The 
palace  of  Charlemagne  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  was  converted  by 
tnem  into  a  stable.  Bishop  Wala  fell  bravely  fighting  at  the 
head  of  an  unequal  force  before  the  gates  of  Metz.  The 
cities  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine  were  burned  to  the  ground, 
and  the  whole  country  between  Liege,  Cologne  and  May- 
ence  laid  desolate.  At  length  Siegfried,  the  brother  of  Gott- 
fried, was  induced  to  withdraw  his  ravaging  hordes  by  the 
gift  of  2,000  pounds  of  gold,  and  for  the  additional  sum  of 
12,000  pounds  of  silver  (to  defray  which  Charles  the  Thick 
seized  all  the  treasures  of  the  churches)  consented  to  a  truce 


834  THE    HISTORY    OF   GERMANY 

of  twelve  years.  Gottfried  was,  moreover,  formally  invested 
with  Friesland  as  a  fief  of  the  empire.  The  Norsemen,  how- 
ever, notwithstanding  these  stipulations,  continued  their  dep- 
redations, advanced  as  far  as  the  Moselle,  and  destroyed  the 
city  of  Treves,  but  were  suddenly  attacked  in  the  forest  of 
Ardennes,  by  the  charcoal  men  and  peasants,  and  10,000 
of  them  cut  to  pieces,  A.D.  883.  Charles  now  became  anx- 
ious to  free  himself  from  his  troublesome  vassal  in  Friesland, 
and  the  Markgraf  Henry,  who  guarded  the  frontier  at  Grab- 
feld  against  the  Sorbi,  brother  to  Poppo,  duke  of  Thuringia, 
the  confidant  of  the  emperor,  invited  Gottfried  to  a  meeting, 
at  which  he  caused  him  to  be  treacherously  murdered. 
Gottfried's  brother-in-law,  the  bastard  Hugo,  was  also  taken 
prisoner  and  deprived  of  sight.  These  acts  of  violence  and 
treason  were  no  sooner  perpetrated  than  the  Norsemen,  glow- 
ing with  revenge,  rushed  like  a  torrent  over  the  country  and 
laid  it  waste  on  every  side,  forcing  their  way  in  immense 
hordes  up  the  Rhine,  the  Maese,  and  the  Seine.  On  the 
Rhine  they  were  opposed  by  Adalbert,  of  the  race  of  Baben- 
berg  (Bamberg).  The  horde,  meanwhile,  that  had  advanced 
up  the  Seine,  quickly  reached  Paris,  encamped  upon  Mont- 
martre,  and  besieged  the  city  for  a  year  and  a  half,  when 
Charles  at  length  marched  to  its  relief  at  the  head  of  a 
numerous  army,  but,  instead  of  trying  the  issue  of  a  battle, 
agreed  to  a  most  shameful  treaty  of  peace,  paid  the  Norse- 
men a  large  sum  of  money,  granted  to  them  free  entry  into 
Paris  and  the  navigation  of  the  Seme,  besides  confirming 
them  in  the  possession  of  Friesland,  A.D.  887.  In  the  east, 
ne  also  allowed  the  Slavi  to  gain  ground,  and  neglected  to 
support  his  nephew  Arnulf ,  who  could  with  difficulty  defend 
himself  against  Suatopluk,  who  continued  to  extend  his  do- 
minions; at  the  same  time,  the  sons  of  the  old  Markgrafs 
Engelschalk  and  "Wilhelm  declared  war  against  each  other, 
and  Aribo,  a  son  of  the  former,  went  over  to  the  Moravians. 
Suatopluk  was  victorious  on  the  Danube,  and  laid  the  coun- 
try waste,  until  Charles  appeared  in  person  to  beg  for  peace, 
which  was  concluded  in  884  on  the  Tulnerfeld.  This  mon- 


THE   CARLOVINGIANS  335 

arch  proved  himself  as  weak  and  despicable  in  his  private  as 
in  his  public  character,  by  carrying  on  a  scandalous  suit 
against  his  wife  Ricardis,  whom  he  accused  of  an  adulterous 
connection  with  his  chancellor,  Bishop  Luitward,  and  who 
proved  her  innocence  by  ordeal,  by  passing  unharmed 
through  fire  in  a  waxen  dress. 

The  great  vassals  of  the  empire,  some  of  whom  beheld  in 
the  fall  of  a  sovereign  they  justly  despised  that  of  the  Carlo- 
vingian  dynasty  and  their  own  aggrandizement,  while  others 
were  influenced  by  their  dislike  of  the  treaties  entered  into 
with  foreign  powers,  the  pope  and  the  Norsemen,  and  by  an 
anxiety  to  make  reparation  for  the  loss  of  their  national 
honor,  convoked  a  great  diet  at  Tribur  in  the  valley  of  the 
Rhine,  near  Oppenheim,  and  deprived  Charles  of  his  crown, 
A.D.  887,  a  degradation  he  survived  but  one  year. 

The  Anti-Carlovingian  party  was  partly  successful.  The 
French  made  choice  of  Odo,  Count  of  Paris,  as  successor  to 
the  crown,  while  the  Lower  Burgundians  in  the  Nether- 
Rhone-land  (Arelat)  elected  Baso,  the  son  of  Louis,  and 
the  Upper  Burgundians  in  the  Western  Alps,  Count  Rudolf, 
a  descendant  of  the  "Welfs.  In  Italy  the  Dukes  Guido  of 
Spoleto  and  Berengar  of  Friuli  made  themselves  so  inde- 
pendent that  they  even  set  themselves  up  as  competitors, 
through  the  favor  of  the  pope,  for  the  imperial  crown.  The 
Germans  alone  remained  faithful  to  the  Carlovingian  house, 
and  elected,  to  the  exclusion  of  Charles  the  Simple,  who  was 
still  alive,  Arnulf,  the  young  and  energetic,  but  illegiti- 
mate son  of  Carlmann,  a  brother  of  Charles  the  Thick,  who 
had  greatly  distinguished  himself  as  duke  of  Bavaria  against 
the  Slavi.  The  consideration  in  which  he  was  held  was  so 
great  that  Odo  came  to  Worms  to  do  homage  to  him  as  em- 
peror, a  ceremony  with  which  Arnulf  contented  himself,  the 
Norsemen  and  Slavi  affording  him  no  opportunity  for  recall- 
ing his  rebellious  subjects  to  their  allegiance. 

Fresh  hostilities  instantly  broke  out  on  the  part  of  the 
Norsemen,  who  made  an  irruption  into  Lothringia,  and  after 
a  bloody  engagement  defeated  the  Germans  near  Maestricht, 


336  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

where  the  archbishop  of  Mayence,  who  had  marched  against 
them  at  the  head  of  his  vassals,  fell.  Arnulf  now  took  the 
field  in  person,  and  a  dreadful  battle  ensued  near  Louvain, 
where  the  Normans  had  encamped,  in  which  Arnulf,  per- 
ceiving that  the  German  cavalry  were  unable  to  cope  with 
the  Norman  foot-soldiers,  who  fought  with  unexampled  dex- 
terity, was  the  first  to  spring  from  his  saddle;  all  the  nobles 
of  the  arrier-ban  followed  his  example,  and  the  contest  be- 
came a  thick  fray,  in  which  the  combatants  strove  hand  to 
hand.  Victory  sided  with  the  Germans.  Siegfried  and 
Gottfried  fell  on  the  field  of  battle,  with  several  thousands 
of  their  followers,  whose  bodies  also  choked  up  the  course  of 
the  Dyle,  across  which  they  had  attempted  to  escape.  Ar- 
nulf, in  gratitude  for  this  deliverance,  made  a  great  pilgrim- 
age, and  ordained  that  this  day,  St.  Gilgentag,  the  1st  of 
September,  should  be  kept  as  an  annual  festival.  The  Norse- 
men, panic-struck  by  this  fearful  catastrophe,  henceforward 
avoided  the  Rhine,  but  made  much  more  frequent  inroads 
into  the  west  of  France. 

Arnulf  had  also  fresh  struggles  to  sustain  against  the 
Slavi;  the  Obotrites  crossed  the  frontiers  and  laid  the  coun- 
try waste.  The  loyalty  of  Poppo  and  of  the  house  of  Baben- 
berg,  who  had  been  in  such  close  alliance  with  Charles  the 
Thick,  and  who  now  found  themselves  neglected,  became 
more  than  doubtful,1  and  Arnulf  was  constrained  to  remove 
the  former  from  his  government.  Engelschalk  the  Younger 
also  proved  faithless,  seduced  one  of  Arnulf  *s  daughters,  and 
then  took  refuge  in  Moravia.  He  was  subsequently  par- 
doned, and  appointed  to  guard  the  Austrian  frontier. 

As  a  means  of  securing  the  eastern  frontier  of  his  empire, 
Arnulf  made  peace  and  entered  into  an  alliance  with  Suato- 
pluk,  prince  of  Moravia,  who  was  a  Christian,  in  the  hope 
that  the  foundation  of  a  great  Christian  Slaviau  kingdom 

1  The  murder  of  Arno,  bishop  of  Wurzburg,  is  perhaps  connected  with  these 
circumstances.  Arno  joined  Poppo  at  the  head  of  his  vassals  against  the  Slavi, 
but  was,  it  appears,  deserted  by  him  when  reading  mass  in  the  open  air,  and  cut 
to  pieces  with  all  his  followers  by  the  pagan  Slavi.  Hence  arose  the  deadly 
feud  that  so  long  existed  between  the  Babenbergers  and  the  Wurzburgers. 


THE   CARLOVINGIANS  337 

might  eventually  prove  an  effectual  bulwark  against  the 
irruptions  of  their  heathen  brethren  in  that  quarter.  The 
Slavian  Maharanen  or  Moravians  had  been  converted  to 
Christianity  by  St.  Cyril  and  St.  Methodius,  who  had  visited 
them  from  Greece.  Borzivoi,  prince  of  Bohemia,  being  also 
induced  to  receive  baptism  by  Suatopluk,  his  pagan  subjects 
drove  him  from  the  throne,  and  he  placed  himself  (with  his 
wife,  St.  Ludmilla)  under  the  protection  of  Suatopluk  and 
Arnulf.  Arnulf  now  gave  Suatopluk  Bohemia  to  hold  in 
fee  and  unlimited  command  on  the  eastern  frontier.  As  a 
proof  of  their  amity,  Suatopluk  became  sponsor  to  Arnulf 's 
son,  to  whom  he  gave  his  name,  Suatopluk,  or  Zwentibold; 
their  friendship  proved,  nevertheless,  of  but  short  duration. 
The  Moravian,  perceiving  that  he  could  not  retain  his  au- 
thority over  the  Slavi  so  long  as  he  preserved  his  amicable 
relations  with  Germany,  yielded  to  the  national  hatred,  while 
at  the  same  time  he  gave  fresh  assurances  of  amity  to  the 
emperor,  A.D.  892.  He  was  also  supported  in  his  projects 
by  a  great  conspiracy  among  the  Germans.  The  thankless 
Engelschalk  again  plotted  treason,  in  which  he  was  upheld 
by  Hildegarde,  the  maiden  daughter  of  Louis  the  German, 
the  last  of  the  legitimate  descendants  of  Charlemagne,  while 
the  Italians,  who  dreaded  Arnulf's  threatened  presence  in 
their  country,  were  not  slow  in  their  endeavors  to  incite  the 
Moravian  to  open  rebellion.  Arnulf,  however,  discovered 
the  conspiracy,  caused  Engelschalk  to  be  deprived  of  sight, 
and  imprisoned  Hildegarde  at  Chiemsee,  but  afterward  re- 
stored her  to  liberty. 

An  unexpected  ally  now  came  to  Arnulf's  assistance 
against  Suatopluk.  At  that  period  there  appeared  in  an- 
cient Pannonia,  first  peopled  by  the  Longobardi,  and  at  a 
later  date  by  the  Avari,  a  nation  named  in  their  own  lan- 
guage Magyars,  or  Hungarians  (strangers),  from  whom  the 
country  derived  its  name,  or  Huns,  as  they  were  at  that  time 
termed  by  the  Germans,  who  imagined  that  they  again  be- 
held in  them  the  Huns  of  former  times.  They  were  pagans, 
wild  and  savage  in  their  habits,  and  extraordinary  riders. 
GERMANY.  VOL.  I. — 15 


338  THE  HISTORY  OP   GERMANY 

Leo,  the  Grecian  emperor,  had  called  them  to  his  assistance 
against  the  Bulgarians,  and  they  at  first  settled  under  seven 
leaders  (among  whom  the  most  distinguished  was  one  named 
Arpad),  each  of  whom  erected  a  fort  or  Burg,  in  the  country 
known  from  that  circumstance  as  Siebenburgen,  but  not 
long  after  turned  westward  and  threatened  Moravia.  Ar- 
nulf  formed  an  alliance  with  them,  but  never,  as  he  has 
been  accused,  invited  them  into  Germany,  and  Suatopluk, 
perceiving  himself  pressed  on  both  sides,  gladly  remained  at 
peace,  A.D.  894. 

In  Italy,  Guido  of  Spoleto  was  victorious  over  Berengar 
of  Friuli,  and  in  891  was  crowned  emperor  by  the  pope,  Ste- 
phen V.  He  died  in  894,  and  his  son,  Lambert,  also  re- 
ceived the  imperial  crown  from  Pope  Formosus.  Arnulf 
had  been  acknowledged  emperor  throughout  the  North,  but 
not  having  been  anointed  or  crowned  by  the  pope,  his  right 
was  liable  to  be  disputed  by  Guido,  and  being  entreated  by 
both  Berengar  and  Formosus,  the  latter  of  whom  was  held 
in  derision  by  the  insolent  Spoletan,  he  resolved  to  march  at 
the  head  of  a  powerful  force  into  Italy.  He  has  been  blamed 
for  quitting  Germany,  at  that  period  not  entirely  tranquil- 
ized,  and  exposing  himself  and  his  army  to  the  hot  climate 
and  diseases  of  Italy,  and  to  the  treachery  of  the  inhabi- 
tants, which  might  easily  have  been  turned  upon  themselves, 
and  never  could  have  endangered  him  on  this  side  of  the 
Alps.  Arnulf's  visit  to  Italy,  the  first  so  termed  pilgrimage 
to  Rome,  which  was  undertaken  with  the  double  aim  of 
having  the  ceremony  of  an  imperial  coronation  performed 
and  of  receiving  the  oath  of  fealty  from  his  rebellious  vas- 
sals, has  been  regarded  as  a  misfortune,  because  visits  to 
Rome  became  from  this  period  customary,  and  ever  proved 
disastrous  to  the  empire.  But  judgment  ought  to  be  given 
according  to  the  difference  of  times  and  circumstances.  The 
union  between  the  people  of  Lombardy  and  of  Rome  was  not 
so  close  at  that  time  as  it  became  at  a  later  period ;  no  Ital- 
ian national  interest  had  as  yet  sprung  up  in  opposition  to 
that  of  Germany ;  the  Italians  were  uninfluenced  by  a  desire 


THE   CARLOVINGIANS  339 

of  separating  themselves  from  the  empire,  as  in  later  times, 
but  were  rather  inclined  to  assert  their  right  over  it.  Guido, 
who  was  connected  with  the  Carlovingians,  attempted  to 
turn  the  separation  that  had  taken  place  between  the  north- 
ern nations  to  advantage,  and  appropriated  to  himself  the 
title  of  emperor ;  and,  as  far  as  these  circumstances  are  con- 
cerned, Arnulf's  visit  to  Italy  appears  to  be  justified.  The 
visits  undertaken  at  a  later  period  to  Rome  were,  on  the 
other  hand,  unjustifiable  in  every  respect,  by  their  imposing, 
as  will  hereafter  be  seen,  a  foreign  ruler  on  Lombardy  and 
Rome,  whose  union  had  become  gradually  stronger,  and 
whose  erection  into  an  independent  state,  to  which  they  were 
entitled  by  their  geographical  position  and  by  their  similar- 
ity in  language  and  manners,  was  ever  prevented  by  fresh 
invasions. 

Arnulf  crossed  the  Alps,  A.D.  894.  Ambrosius,  Graf  of 
Lombardy,  closing  the  gates  of  Bergamo  against  him,  he 
took  the  city  by  storm  and  hanged  his  faithless  vassal  at  the 
gate.  His  further  progress  was  impeded  by  the  treachery  of 
Odo,  the  French  king,  who  took  advantage  of  his  absence  to 
arm  against  him,  while  Rudolf  of  Upper  Burgundy  actually 
marched  to  the  assistance  of  the  Spoletans,  and  Arnulf  was 
thus  reluctantly  forced  to  retrace  his  steps.  He  undertook  a 
second  expedition  across  the  Alps  in  896,  and  advanced  into 
Tuscany,  where  he  was  amicably  received  by  Adalbert,  the 
faithless  Markgraf,1  and  by  Berengar,  who  no  sooner  found 
themselves  deceived  in  their  expectation  of  making  him  sub- 
servient to  their  own  interest  and  of  easily  outwitting  him, 
than  they  assumed  a  threatening  attitude.  Arnulf,  undis- 
mayed by  the  dangers  with  which  he  was  surrounded,  in- 
stantly marched  upon  Rome,  whose  gates  were  closed  against 
him  by  the  Spoletans,  who  successfully  repelled  every  attack 
on  the  walls,  and  the  emperor  was  on  the  point  of  retreating, 

1  Bertha,  the  wife  of  Adalbert  (who  was  blindly  guided  by  her),  a  woman  of 
an  intriguing  disposition,  was  the  daughter  of  Lothar  II.  and  of  Walrade.  Her 
first  husband  was  Theobald,  Count  of  Aries,  by  whom  she  had  Hugo,  afterward 
king  of  Italy.  Sigonius  relates  the  manner  in  which  all  the  intrigues  of  those 
times  in  Italy  and  Burgundy  were  conducted  by  this  woman. 


840  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

when  his  soldiers,  enraged  at  the  sarcasms  of  the  Italians 
who  manned  the  walls,  rushed  furiously  to  the  attack,  and 
carried  the  city  by  storm.  Lambert's  adherents  fled,  and  the 
rescued  pope  placed  the  imperial  crown  on  Arnulf 's  head.  A 
mode  of  vengeance  to  which  the  Italians  have  in  every  age 
had  recourse  was  now  but  too  successfully  attempted  against 
the  life  of  the  German  hero;  slow  poison  was  administered, 
and  he  expired  at  CEttingen,  on  his  way  back  to  Germany. 
He  was  buried  at  Ratisbon. 

On  Arnulf 's  death,  Lambert  regained  the  sovereignty  of 
Italy,  and  again  reduced  Berengar  and  Adalbert  to  submis- 
sion.1 He  was  assassinated  in  898,  and  his  adherents  invited 
Louis,  the  son  of  Boso,  into  Italy.  This  prince  was  a  Carlo- 
yingian,  and  grandson  to  Louis  II.,  and  at  that  time  reigned 
over  Burgundy.  Bertha,  the  ambitious  wife  of  Adalbert, 
who  was  residing  at  Lucca,  and  whose  pride  could  not  brook 
the  idea  that  her  son  Hugo  was  merely  Count  of  Aries  and 
Louis's  vassal,  plotted  his  destruction.  In  order  to  lull  his 
suspicions,  she  gave  him  a  friendly  reception,  but  no  sooner 
beheld  him  entirely  in  her  power  than  she  betrayed  him  to 
Berengar,  who  caused  him  to  be  deprived  of  sight,  A.D.  905. 
Hugo  then  made  himself  master  of  Lower  Burgundy  (Are- 
lat),  and  after  the  assassination  of  Berengar,  925,  was  placed 
by  his  mother  on  the  throne  of  Italy.  This  country  seemed 
destined  to  be  governed  by  women ;  after  the  death  of  Ber- 
tha, a  wealthy  Roman,  named  Theodora,  seized  the  reins  of 
government,  revived  the  ancient  spirit  of  paganism,  and 
drew  all  in  her  licentious  train.  One  of  her  lovers  she  caused 
to  be  elected  pope,  as  John  X.  Her  daughter  Marozia,  who 
surpassed  her  mother  in  lewdness,  married  successively  two 
of  the  sons  of  Bertha,  first  Guido,  and  then  King  Hugo,  with 
whom  she  lived  in  the  most  profligate  manner.  She  kept 
lovers,  and  he  a  harem  of  mistresses,  to  whom  he  gave  the 
names  of  different  heathen  goddesses.  Her  son,  Octavian, 
who  became  pope,  as  John  XL,  died  suddenly,  and  Hugo 

1  He  took  the  latter  prisoner  in  a  stable,  and  said  to  him,  "Your  wife  would 
have  made  of  you  either  a  king  or  an  ass,  now  you  have  become  the  latter. " 


THE    CARLOVINOIANS  341 

was  driven  from  his  throne,  A.D.  947,  by  his  stepson,  Albe- 
rich,  the  son  of  Guido  and  Marozia,  who  made  Rome  his 
seat  of  government,  while  a  grandson  of  Berengar,  Berengar 
II.,  reigned  in  Upper  Italy.  Hugo's  former  inheritance,  and 
the  Arelat  or  Lower  Burgundy,  were  united  with  Upper 
Burgundy  under  Eudolf  II. ,  and  even  his  Italian  kingdom 
seemed  forever  lost  to  his  remaining  son,  Lothar,  whose 
wife,  the  beautiful  Adelheid,  was  destined  to  decide  the 
fate  of  Italy. 

CXXX.    The  Babenberg  Feud — The  Hungarians 

AENTJLF  had,  during  his  lifetime,  placed  his  son,  Zwenti- 
bold,  on  the  throne  of  Lothringia,  in  order  to  guard  the 
frontiers  of  the  empire  against  the  Norsemen.  This  young 
prince  entered  into  alliance  with  Odo  of  Paris,  whose  daugh- 
ter he  married,  and  by  his  insolence  drew  upon  himself  the 
dislike  of  the  clergy.  His  ill-treatment  of  Rathod,  arch- 
bishop of  Treves,  also  rendered  him  unpopular  with  the 
commonalty.  A  rebellion  broke  out  in  Lothringia,  and  he 
lost  both  his  crown  and  his  life  in  a  battle  that  took  place 
on  the  Maese,  A.D.  900.  Odo's  reign  in  France  was  also  of 
short  duration.  Charles  the  Simple  was  replaced  on  the 
throne  by  the  bishops  and  the  vassals,  who  found  their  ad- 
vantage in  the  imbecility  of  their  monarch.  Charles  created 
Regingar  duke  of  Lothringia,  and  was  forced  to  acknowledge 
Rollo,  duke  of  Normandy. 

In  Germany,  the  great  vassals,  and  the  bishops  also, 
usurped  the  direction  of  affairs.  Louis,  the  second  son  of 
Arnulf,  surnamed  the  Child,  on  account  of  his  being  at  that 
time  only  in  his  seventh  year,  was,  by  the  intrigues  of  Otto, 
duke  of  Saxony,  and  of  Hatto,  archbishop  of  Mayence,  who 
sought  to  reign  under  his  name,  placed  upon  the  imperial 
throne.  The  power  of  the  bishops  had  become  exorbitant 
without  the  aid  of  the  popes,  whose  licentious  conduct  threat- 
ened at  this  period  to  endanger  the  church.  Hatto,  a  man 
of  daring  courage  and  deep  cunning,  unprincipled  and  cruel, 


842  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

bore  unlimited  sway  in  France  and  in  southern  Germany,  in 
which  he  was  upheld  by  Otto,  who  sought  to  strengthen 
himself  in  Saxony,  and  to  aggrandize  his  house  by  the  aid 
of  the  church.  Adalbert,  the  opponent  of  the  Norsemen, 
Henry  and  Adelhart,  the  sons  of  Henry  of  Babenberg,  find- 
ing themselves  neglected,  and  pressed  from  the  north  by  the 
Saxons,  from  the  west  by  the  bishops,  set  themselves  up  in 
opposition.  Rudolf,  bishop  of  Wiirzburg,  who  was  sup- 
ported by  Hatto,  having  obtained  a  considerable  fief  for  his 
family  by  the  abuse  of  his  spiritual  authority,  Adalbert  had 
recourse  to  arms,  upon  which  Hatto,  probably  favored  by 
the  ancient  hatred  of  the  rest  of  the  vassals  to  the  house  of 
Babenberg,  succeeded  in  having  him  put  out  of  the  ban  of 
the  empire.  Henry  was  killed,  and  Adelhart  was  taken 
prisoner  and  executed.  Adalbert,  meanwhile,  made  a  vig- 
orous resistance,  and  slew  Graf  Conrad,  Bishop  Rudolf's 
brother,  but  was,  ere  long,  closely  besieged  in  his  fortress  of 
Bamberg.  Hatto,  finding  other  means  unavailing,  treach- 
erously offered  his  mediation,  and  promised  him  a  free  and 
safe  return  to  his  fortress,  if  he  would  present  himself  before 
the  assembled  diet.  Trusting  to  the  word  of  the  wily  priest, 
the  Graf  issued  from  his  fort,  at  whose  foot  he  was  met  by 
Hatto,  who,  in  the  most  friendly  manner,  proposed  their 
breakfasting  together  within  the  fortress  before  setting  off 
on  their  journey.  The  Graf  assented,  and  returned  with 
him  to  the  fort;  he  then  accompanied  him  to  the  diet,  where 
Hatto  declared  himself  exempted  from  his  promise  by  his 
having  restored  the  Graf  unharmed  to  his  fortress  for  the 
purpose  of  taking  his  breakfast,  and  that  he  now  was  free  to 
act  as  he  deemed  proper.  The  assembled  vassals,  upon  this, 
unanimously  sentenced  Adalbert  to  death,  and  he  was  be- 
headed. Conrad,  Bishop  Rudolf's  nephew,  was  created  duke 
of  Franconia.1  This  family  of  the  "Wurzburg  bishop  was 
surnamed  the  Rotenburgers,  from  Rotenburg  on  the  Tauber ; 


1  But  simply  missus  super  exercitum,  the  bishop  assuming  the  civil  author- 
ity, and  afterward  arrogating  to  himself  the  whole  ducal  power. 


THE   CARLOV1XG1ANS  343 

their  descendants  acquired,  at  a  later  period,  far  greater 
celebrity  under  the  name  of  the  Saliers. 

The  treacherous  policy  of  Bishop  Hatto,  however,  made 
a  deep  impression  upon  the  minds  of  the  commonalty,  among 
whom  loyalty  was  still  held  in  higher  honor  than  the  sacred 
head  of  the  churchman,  and  historians  relate  that,  while  the 
dukes  overlooked  the  conduct  of  the  bishop  and  yielded  to 
the  outbreak  of  the  popular  dissatisfaction,  Hatto's  name 
and  the  memory  of  his  infamy  were  execrated  and  derided 
in  popular  ballads  throughout  Germany.  His  name  repre- 
sented the  idea  of  hierarchical  lust  of  power  and  avarice, 
and  hence  arose  the  legend  that  records  his  miserable  death. 
It  is  said  that,  during  a  famine,  a  number  of  peasants  who 
came  to  the  bishop  and  begged  for  bread  were  by  his  order 
shut  up  in  a  great  barn  and  burned  to  death.  From  the 
ruins  there  issued  myriads  of  mice,  which  ceaselessly  pur- 
sued the  wretched  bishop,  who  vainly  attempted  to  elude 
them,  and  who  at  length,  driven  to  despair,  fled  for  safety 
to  a  strong  tower  standing  in  the  middle  of  the  fthine  near 
Bingen,  but  here  also  the  mice  continued  their  pursuit,  swam 
across  the  water,  and  devoured  him.  The  tower  is  still 
standing,  and  is  known  at  the  present  day  as  the  Mause- 
thurm  or  mouse-tower.1  This  example  is  a  manifest  proof 
that  the  popular  fictions  were  founded  upon  fact,  and  clearly 
express  the  spirit  of  those  times. 

Salomon,8  bishop  of  Constance,  who  made  a  similar  at- 
tempt to  gain  possession  of  an  extensive  feudal  territory,  was 
abbot  of  twelve  rich  monasteries,  and  equaled  a  prince  in  the 
number  of  his  feudal  retainers ;  he  fell  into  a  feud  with  the 
most  powerful  of  the  temporal  lords  of  Swabia,  Erchanger 
and  Berthold,  who  then  exercised  the  ducal  authority  as 

1  Musshusz  is  synonymous  with  Zeughaus  (arsenal).  Hence  also  the  word 
musket.  This  tower  may  have  been  an  old  store-place  for  weapons,  and  the 
legend  may  merely  have  given  a  different  interpretation  to  the  original  name. 

9  This  bishop  had  a  very  beautiful  and  learned  daughter  (aliquantis  per 
literata),  who  was  educated  in  the  convent  at  Zurich,  and  of  whom  the  emperor 
Arnulf  became  enamored.  She,  however,  scorned  to  be  an  emperor's  mistress, 
and  married  a  nobleman  in  Thurgau.  Salomon  was  a  handsome,  dignified  man, 
extremely  popular,  and  eloquent  and  impressive  in  the  pulpit — Chwrch  History. 


344  THE   HISTORY    OF   GERMANY 

Kammerboten,  or  financial  officers,  which  proved  as  deadly 
as  that  carried  on  by  the  bishop  of  Wiirzburg  against  the 
house  of  Babenberg.  In  the  Netherlands,  Graf  Baldwin  of 
Flanders  being  opposed  by  Falko,  the  powerful  archbishop 
of  Rheims,  he  caused  him  to  be  assassinated. 

The  wild  Magyars  maintained  possession  of  Hungary. 
After  the  death  of  Suatopluk,  the  kingdom  of  Moravia  com- 
pletely fell;  the  Bohemians  again  severed  themselves  from 
the  German  empire  and  divided  the  possessions  of  Suatopluk 
with  the  Hungarians,  who,  although  governed  after  the 
death  of  Arpad  by  a  boy  thirteen  years  of  age,  their  king, 
Zoldan,  continually  made  fresh  conquests  along  the  Danube 
under  their  numerous  and  valiant  leaders.  Suatopluk  the 
Younger  fell  in  battle;  his  brother  Moymir  fled  for  protec- 
tion to  Duke  Luitpold,  the  stanch  defender  of  the  German 
frontiers.  Cussal,  the  leader  of  the  Hungarians,  was  de- 
feated in  two  great  battles  on  the  Enns  and  near  to  Vienna, 
and  was  left  on  the  field,  A.D.  900.  Undismayed  by  these 
disasters,  the  Hungarians  attacked  the  Cariuthian  Alps, 
while  the  Obotrites  under  Crito  made  an  inroad  into  Sax- 
ony ;  but  being  again  repulsed,  they  made  an  incursion  into 
Italy  and  laid  that  country  waste,  A.D.  902.  For  a  third 
time  they  appeared  in  such  force  that  Luitpold,  the  son  of 
Ernst,  the  former  Markgraf ,  and  the  brother  of  Aribo,  was 
defeated  and  killed  near  Presburg,  and  Louis,  who  was  pres- 
ent in  this  battle,  narrowly  escaped  being  taken  prisoner. 
They  next  invaded  Thuringia,  A.D.  907,  where  the  new 
Markgraf,  Burkhard,  after  making  a  valiant  defense,  also 
fell.  The  following  year,  A.D.  909,  they  entered  Franconia, 
where  the  Markgraf  Gebhard  vainly  attempted  to  stem  their 
progress,  and  was  killed.  The  death  of  these  leaders  at  once 
proves  the  obstinate  resistance  made  by  the  Germans,  and 
the  numerical  superiority  of  the  enemy.  The  Hungarian 
was  irresistible  in  the  fury  of  his  onset,  invincible  in  battle 
by  his  contempt  of  death,  untiring  in  pursuit,  or  secured 
from  it  by  the  rapidity  of  his  horse.  His  bloodthirstiness, 
his  inhuman  treatment  of  the  unarmed  and  helpless,  his  de- 


THE   CARLOVINGIANS  345 

structive  and  predatory  habits,  astonished  and  terrified  the 
milder  German,  who  regarded  him  in  the  light  of  an  evil 
spirit,  as  the  Goth  had  formerly  regarded  the  Hun,  until  he 
became  habituated  to  him.  The  suddenness  with  which  these 
mounted  hordes  appeared  in  the  heart  of  the  country  and 
again  vanished,  greatly  strengthened  the  belief  in  their  su- 
pernatural powers.  They  also  acted  with  a  sort  of  religious 
fanaticism,  from  a  belief  that  every  enemy  they  slew  would 
be  their  vassal  in  a  future  state.  They  were  so  bloodthirsty, 
that  they  would  make  use  of  the  corpses  of  their  opponents 
as  tables  during  their  savage  feasts.  They  bound  the  cap- 
tured women  and  maidens  with  their  own  long  hair,  and 
drove  them  in  flocks  to  Hungary.1 

Louis  the  Child,  dismayed  by  these  repeated  disasters, 
concluded  a  treaty  of  peace  with  these  people,  and  consented 
to  pay  them  a  ten  years'  tribute.  The  Enns  was  declared 
the  boundary  of  Hungary,  and  the  wild  Arpads  erected  their 
royal  castle  on  the  beautiful  mountain  on  the  Danube  on 
which  the  splendid  monastery  of  Molk  now  stands.  The 
Germans  were  deeply  sensible  of  the  dishonor  incurred  by 
this  ignominious  tribute,  of  the  danger  of  their  internal  dis- 
sensions, and  of  the  misfortune  of  being  governed  by  so  im- 
becile a  monarch.  It  was  even  publicly  preached  from  the 
pulpit,  "Woe  to  the  land,  whose  king  is  a  child!"  The 
youthful  monarch  died,  A.D.  911,  before  he  had  even  reigned, 
and  with  him  ended  the  race  of  Charlemagne  in  Germany. 

CXXXI.    Conrad  the  First 

THE  extinction  of  the  Carlovingian  line  did  not  sever  the 
bond  of  union  that  existed  between  the  different  nations  of 
Germany,  although  a  contention  arose  between  them  con- 

1  One  of  the  touching  stories  of  the  times  relates  that  Ulrich,  Graf  of 
Linzgau,  being  taken  prisoner  by  the  Hungarians,  his  beautiful  wife,  Wen- 
delgarde,  believing  him  to  be  dead,  devoted  the  remainder  of  her  life  to  prayers 
and  almsgiving.  One  day  when  distributing  her  daily  alms  to  a  crowd  of  beg- 
gars, one  of  them  fell  on  her  neck  and  kissed  her.  Her  attendants  interposed, 
but  the  criminal  said,  smiling,  "Forbear;  I  have  endured  blows  and  misery 
enough  during  my  imprisonment ;  I  am  Ulrich,  your  Lord." 


346  THE  HISTORY  OF  GERMANY 

cerning  the  election  of  the  new  emperor,  each  claiming  that 
privilege  for  itself;  and  as  the  increase  of  the  ducal  power 
had  naturally  led  to  a  wider  distinction  between  them,  the 
diet  convoked  for  the  purpose  represented  nations  instead 
of  classes.  There  were  consequently  four  nations  and  four 
votes:  the  Franks  under  Duke  Conrad,  whose  authority 
nevertheless  could  not  compete  with  that  of  the  now  vener- 
able Hatto,  archbishop  of  Mayence,  who  may  be  said  to  have 
been,  at  that  period,  the  pope  in  Germany;  the  Saxons, 
Frieslanders,  Thuringians,  and  some  of  the  subdued  Slavi, 
under  Duke  Otto;  the  Swabians,  with  Switzerland  and  El- 
sace,  under  different  Grafs,  who,  as  the  immediate  officers 
of  the  crown,  were  named  Kammerboten,  in  order  to  dis- 
tinguish them  from  the  Grafs  nominated  by  the  dukes ;  the 
Bavarians,  with  the  Tyrolese  and  some  of  the  subdued  east- 
ern Slavi,  under  Duke  Arnulf  the  Bad,  the  son  of  the  brave 
Duke  Luitpold.  The  Lothringians  formed  a  fifth  nation, 
under  their  duke  Regingar,  but  were  at  that  period  incorpo- 
rated with  France. 

The  first  impulse  of  the  diet  was  to  bestow  the  crown  on 
the  most  powerful  among  the  different  competitors,  and  it 
was  accordingly  offered  to  Otto  of  Saxony,  who  not  only 
possessed  the  most  extensive  territory  and  the  most  warlike 
subjects,  but  whose  authority,  having  descended  to  him  from 
his  father  and  grandfather,  was  also  the  most  firmly  secured. 
But  both  Otto  and  his  ancient  ally,  the  bishop  Hatto,  had 
found  the  system  they  had  hitherto  pursued,  of  reigning  in 
the  name  of  an  imbecile  monarch,  so  greatly  conducive  to 
their  interest  that  they  were  disinclined  to  abandon  it.  Otto 
was  a  man  who  mistook  the  prudence  inculcated  by  private 
interest  for  wisdom,  and  his  mind,  narrow  as  the  limits  of 
his  dukedom,  and  solely  intent  upon  the  interests  of  his  fam- 
ily, was  incapable  of  the  comprehensive  views  requisite  in  a 
German  emperor,  and  indifferent  to  the  welfare  of  the  great 
body  of  the  nation.  The  examples  of  Boso,  of  Odo,  of  Rudolf 
of  Upper  Burgundy,  and  of  Berengar,  who,  favored  by  the 
difference  in  descent  of  the  people  they  governed,  had  all 


THE    CARLOVINGIANS  347 

succeeded  in  severing  themselves  from  the  empire,  were  ever 
present  to  his  imagination,  and  he  believed  that  as,  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Rhine,  the  Frank,  the  Burgundian,  and 
the  Lombard,  severally  obeyed  an  independent  sovereign, 
the  East  Frank,  the  Saxon,  the  Swabian,  and  the  Bavarian, 
on  this  side  of  the  Rhine,  were  also  desirous  of  asserting  a 
similar  independence,  and  that  it  would  be  easier  and  less 
hazardous  to  found  a  hereditary  dukedom  in  a  powerful 
and  separate  state  than  to  maintain  the  imperial  dignity, 
undermined  as  it  was  by  universal  hostility. 

The  influence  of  Hatto  and  the  consent  of  Otto  placed 
Conrad,  duke  of  Franconia,  on  the  imperial  throne.  Sprung 
from  a  newly-risen  family,  a  mere  creature  of  the  bishop,  his 
nobility  as  a  feudal  lord  only  dating  from  the  period  of  the 
Babenberg  feud,  he  was  regarded  by  the  church  as  a  pliable 
tool,  and  by  the  dukes  as  little  to  be  feared.  His  weakness 
was  quickly  demonstrated  by  his  inability  to  retain  the  rich 
allods  of  the  Carlovingian  dynasty  as  heir  to  the  imperial 
crown,  and  his  being  constrained  to  share  them  with  the  rest 
of  the  dukes ;  he  was,  nevertheless,  more  fully  sensible  of  the 
dignity  and  of  the  duties  of  his  station  than  those  to  whom 
he  owed  his  election  probably  expected.  His  first  step  was 
to  recall  Regingar  of  Lothringia,  who  was  oppressed  by 
France,  to  his  allegiance  as  vassal  of  the  empire. 

Otto  died  in  912,  and  his  son  Henry,  a  high-spirited  youth, 
who  had  greatly  distinguished  himself  against  the  Slavi,  ere 
long  quarreled  with  the  aged  Bishop  Hatto.  According  to 
the  legendary  account,  the  bishop  sent  him  a  golden  chain, 
so  skillfully  contrived  as  to  strangle  its  wearer.  The  truth  is 
that  the  ancient  family  feud  between  the  house  of  Conrad 
and  that  of  Otto,  which  was  connected  with  the  Babenberg- 
ers,  again  broke  out,  and  that  the  emperor  attempted  again 
to  separate  Thuringia,  which  Otto  had  governed  since  the 
death  of  Burkhard,  from  Saxony,  in  order  to  hinder  the  over- 
preponderance  of  that  ducal  house.  Hatto,  it  is  probable, 
counseled  this  step,  as  a  considerable  portion  of  Thuringia 
belonged  to  the  diocese  of  Mayence,  and  a  collision  between 


348  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

him  and  the  duke  was  therefore  unavoidable.  Henry  flew  to 
arms,  and  expelled  the  adherents  of  the  hishop  from  Thurin- 
gia,  which  forced  the  emperor  to  take  the  field  in  the  name 
of  the  empire  against  his  haughty  vassal.  This  unfortunate 
civil  war  was  a  signal  for  a  fresh  irruption  of  the  Slavi  and 
Hungarians.  During  this  year  the  Bohemians  and  Sorbi 
also  made  an  inroad  into  Thuringia  and  Bavaria,  and  in  913 
the  Hungarians  advanced  as  far  as  Swabia,  but  being  sur- 
prised near  CEtting  by  the  Bavarians  under  Arnulf ,  who  on 
this  occasion  bloodily  avenged  his  father's  death,  and  by  the 
Swabians  under  the  Kammerboten,  Erchanger  and  Berthold, 
they  were  all,  with  the  exception  of  thirty  of  their  number, 
cut  to  pieces.  Arnulf  subsequently  embraced  a  contrary  line 
of  policy,  married  the  daughter  of  Geisa,  king  of  Hungary, 
and  entered  into  a  confederacy  with  the  Hungarian  and  the 
Swabian  Kammerboten,  for  the  purpose  of  founding  an  in- 
dependent state  in  the  south  of  Germany,  where  he  had 
already  strengthened  himself  by  the  appointment  of  several 
Markgrafs,  Rudiger  of  Pechlarn  in  Austria,  Rathold  in  Ca- 
rinthia,  and  Berthold  in  the  Tyrol.  He  then  instigated  all 
the  enemies  of  the  empire  simultaneously  to  attack  the 
Franks  and  Saxons,  at  that  crisis  at  war  with  each  other, 
A.D.  915,  and  while  the  Danes  under  Gorm  the  Old,  and  the 
Obotrites,  destroyed  Hamburg,  immense  hordes  of  Hunga- 
rians, Bohemians  and  Sorbi  laid  the  country  waste  as  far  as 
Bremen. 

The  emperor  was,  meanwhile,  engaged  with  the  Saxons. 
On  one  occasion,  Henry  narrowly  escaped  being  taken  pris- 
oner, being  merely  saved  by  the  stratagem  of  his  faithful 
servant,  Thiatmar,  who  caused  the  emperor  to  retreat  by 
falsely  announcing  to  him  the  arrival  of  a  body  of  auxiliaries. 
At  length  a  pitched  battle  was  fought  near  Merseburg  be- 
tween Henry  and  Eberhard,  A.D.  915,  the  emperor's  brother, 
in  which  the  Franks1  were  defeated,  and  the  superiority  of 

1  So  great  a  slaughter  took  place  that  the  Saxons  said  on  the  occasion — 

"  'Twere  difficult  to  find  a  hell, 

"Where  so  many  Franks  might  dwell!" 


THE   CARLOV1NOIANS  349 

the  Saxons  remained,  henceforward,  unquestioned  for  more 
than  a  century.  The  emperor  was  forced  to  negotiate  with 
the  victor,  whom  he  induced  to  protect  the  northern  frontiers 
of  the  empire  while  he  applied  himself  in  person  to  the  re- 
establishment  of  order  in  the  south. 

In  Swabia,  Salomon,  bishop  of  Constance,  who  was  sup- 
ported by  the  commonalty,  adhered  to  the  imperial  cause, 
while  the  Kammerboten  were  unable  to  palliate  their  trea- 
son, and  were  gradually  driven  to  extremities.  Erchanger, 
relying  upon  aid  from  Arnulf  and  the  Hungarians,  usurped 
the  ducal  crown  and  took  the  bishop  prisoner.  Salomon's 
extreme  popularity  filled  him  with  such  rage  that  he  caused 
the  feet  of  some  shepherds,1  who  threw  themselves  on  their 
knees  as  the  captured  prelate  passed  by,  to  be  chopped  off. 
His  wife,  Bertha,  terror-stricken  at  the  rashness  of  her  hus- 
band and  foreseeing  his  destruction,  received  the  prisoner 
with  every  demonstration  of  humility,  and  secretly  aided  his 
escape.  He  no  sooner  reappeared  than  the  people  flocked  in 
thousands  around  him :  ' '  Heil  Herro !  Heil  Liebo ! "  ("  Hail, 
master!  Hail,  beloved  one!")  they  shouted,  and  in  their 
zeal  attacked  and  defeated  the  traitors  and  their  adherents. 
Berthold  vainly  defended  himself  in  his  mountain  stronghold 
of  Hohentwiel.  The  people  so  urgently  demanded  the  death 
of  these  traitors  to  their  country  that  the  emperor  convoked 
a  general  assembly  at  Albingen  in  Swabia,  sentenced  Er- 
changer and  Berthold  to  be  publicly  beheaded  and  nominated 
Burkhard,  A.D.  917,  whose  father  and  uncle  had  been  assas- 
sinated by  order  of  Erchanger,  as  successor  to  the  ducal 
throne. — Arnulf  withdrew  to  his  fortress  at  Salzburg,  and 

1  It  appears  that  he  aimed,  like  the  bishops  of  Mayence  and  "Wurzburg,  at 
the  possession  of  great  temporal  power,  and  became  on  that  account  the  hated 
rival  of  the  Kammerboten,  several  of  whom  on  one  occasion  visiting  him,  he 
showed  them  an  oven,  in  which  a  thousand  loaves  were  baked  at  once ;  an  oat 
kiln  that  contained  three  hundred  curnocks ;  vessels  of  gold  and  silver,  *nd 
costly  glasses,  which  the  Kammerboten  in  their  envious  rage  cast  upon  the 
ground.  The  bishop  then  told  them,  that  he  had  wealthy  shepherds  in  hia 
mountains  before  whom  they  should  deferentially  uncover  their  heads,  and 
caused  a  couple  of  herdsmen  to  be  attired  like  noblemen,  to  whom  the  Kammer- 
boten unwittingly  paid  the  honor  demanded  by  the  bishop,  a  deception  that 
greatly  added  to  the  bitterness  of  their  hatred. 


350  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

quietly  awaited  more  favorable  times.  His  name  was 
branded  with  infamy  by  the  people,  who  henceforth  affixed 
to  it  the  epithet  of  "The  Bad,"  and  the  Nibelungenlied  has 
perpetuated  his  detested  memory. 

Conrad  died,  in  918,  without  issue.  On  his  death-bed, 
mindful  only  of  the  welfare  of  the  empire,  he  proved  him- 
self deserving  even  by  his  latest  act  of  the  crown  he  had  so 
worthily  worn,  by  charging  his  brother  Eberhard  to  forget 
the  ancient  feud  between  their  houses,  and  to  deliver  the 
crown  with  his  own  hands  to  his  enemy,  the  free-spirited 
Henry,  whom  he  judged  alone  capable  of  meeting  all  the 
exigencies  of  the  state.  Eberhard  obeyed  his  brother's  in- 
junctions, and  the  princes  respected  the  will  of  their  dying 
sovereign. 


PART    IX 
THE  SAXON  EMPERORS 


CXXXII.    Henry  the  Fowler — Origin  of  the  Middle 

Classes 

THE  princes,  with  the  exception  of  Burkhard  and  of 
Arnulf,  assembled  at  Fritzlar,  elected  the  absent 
Henry  king,  and  dispatched  an  embassy  to  inform 
him  of  their  decision.  It  is  said  that  the  young  duke  was  at 
the  time  among  the  Harz  Mountains,  and  that  the  embassa- 
dors  found  him  in  the  homely  attire  of  a  sportsman  in  the 
fowling  floor.  He  obeyed  the  call  of  the  nation  without  de- 
lay, and  without  manifesting  surprise.  The  error  he  had 
committed  in  rebelling  against  the  state,  it  was  his  firm  pur- 
pose to  atone  for  by  his  conduct  as  emperor.  Of  a  lofty  and 
majestic  stature,  although  slight  and  youthful  in  form,  pow- 
erful and  active  in  person,  with  a  commanding  and  penetrat- 
ing glance,  his  very  appearance  attracted  popular  favor;  be- 


THE  SAXON  EMPERORS  351 

sides  these  personal  advantages,  lie  was  prudent  and  learned, 
and  possessed  a  mind  replete  with  intelligence.  The  influ- 
ence of  such  a  monarch  on  the  progressive  development  of 
society  in  Germany  could  not  fail  of  producing  results  fully 
equaling  the  improvements  introduced  by  Charlemagne. 

The  youthful  Henry,  the  first  of  the  Saxon  line,  was  pro- 
claimed king  of  Germany  at  Fritzlar,  A.D.  919,  by  the  ma- 
jority of  votes,  and,  according  to  ancient  custom,  raised  upon 
the  shield.1  The  archbishop  of  Mayence  offered  to  anoint 
him  according  to  the  usual  ceremony,  but  Henry  refused, 
alleging  that  he  was  content  to  owe  his  election  to  the  grace 
of  God  and  to  the  piety  of  the  German  princes,  and  that  he 
left  the  ceremony  of  anointment  to  those  who  wished  to  be 
still  more  pious. 

Before  Henry  could  pursue  his  more  elevated  projects,  the 
assent  of  the  southern  Germans,  who  had  not  acknowledged 
the  choice  of  their  northern  compatriots,  had  to  be  gained. 
Burkhard  of  Swabia,  who  had  asserted  his  independence, 
and  who  was  at  that  time  carrying  on  a  bitter  feud  with 
Rudolf,"  king  of  Burgundy,  whom  he  had  defeated,  A.D. 
919,  in  a  bloody  engagement  near  "Winterthur,  was  the  first 
against  whom  he  directed  the  united  forces  of  the  empire,  in 
whose  name  he,  at  the  same  time,  offered  him  peace  and  par- 
don. Burkhard,  seeing  himself  constrained  to  yield,  took  the 
oath  of  fealty  to  the  newly-elected  king  at  Worms,  but  con- 
tinued to  act  with  almost  his  former  unlimited  authority  in 
Swabia,  and  even  undertook  an  expedition  into  Italy  in  favor 
of  Rudolf,  with  whom  he  had  become  reconciled.  The  Ital- 
ians, enraged  at  the  wantonness  with  which  he  mocked  them, 


1  This  custom  appears  to  have  been  discontinued  at  a  later  period. —  Witte- 
Ttind  Ghron. 

2  His  wife,  Bertha,  was  celebrated  as  a  good  housewife.     Seals  of  hers  are 
still  extant,  on  which  she  is  represented  seated  on  a  throne  spinning.     She  was 
long  regarded  among  the  people  as  the  protectress  of  domestic  economy,  and  of 
industrious  maidens,   and  the  memory  of  "the  good  old  times  when  Bertha 
span,"  continued  to  a  late  date.     In  1818,  her  coffin  was  discovered  at  Peter- 
lingen  (Payerne)  in  "Waadtland,  and  was  solemnly  borne  by  young  maidens  to 
the  town  church,  where  it  was  entombed. — Meyer  von  Knonau. 


352  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

assassinated  him.1  Henry  bestowed  the  dukedom  of  Swabia 
on  Hermann,  one  of  his  relations,  to  whom  he  gave  Burk- 
hard's  widow  in  marriage.  He  also  bestowed  a  portion  of 
the  south  of  Alemannia  on  King  Rudolf,  in  order  to  win  him 
over,  and  in  return  received  from  him  the  holy  lance,  with 
which  the  side  of  the  Saviour  had  been  pierced  as  he  hung 
on  the  cross.  Finding  it  no  longer  possible  to  dissolve  the 
dukedoms  and  great  fiefs,  Henry,  in  order  to  strengthen 
the  unity  of  the  empire,  introduced  the  novel  policy  of  be- 
stowing the  dukedoms,  as  they  fell  vacant,  on  his  relations 
and  personal  adherents,  and  of  allying  the  rest  of  the  dukes 
with  himself  by  intermarriage,  thus  uniting  the  different 
powerful  houses  in  the  state  into  one  family. 

Bavaria  still  remained  in  an  unsettled  state.  Arnulf  the 
Bad,  leagued  with  the  Hungarians,  against  whom  Henry 
had  great  designs,  had  still  much  in  his  power,  and  Henry, 
resolved  at  any  price  to  dissolve  this  dangerous  alliance,  not 
only  concluded  peace  with  this  traitor  on  that  condition,  but 
also  married  his  son  Henry  to  Judith,  Arnulf's  daughter, 
A.D.  921.  Arnulf  deprived  the  rich  churches  of  great  part 
of  their  treasures,  and  was  consequently  abhorred  by  the 
clergy,  the  chroniclers  of  those  times,  who,  chiefly  on  that 
account,  depicted  his  character  in  such  unfavorable  colors. 

In  France,  Charles  the  Simple  was  still  the  tool  and  jest 
of  the  vassals.  His  most  dangerous  enemy  was  Robert, 
Count  of  Paris,  brother  to  Odo,  the  late  king.  Both  solicited 
aid  from  Henry,  but  in  a  battle  that  shortly  ensued  near 
Soissons,  Count  Robert  losing  his  life  and  Charles  being 
defeated,  Rudolf  of  Burgundy,  one  of  Boso's  nephews,  set 
himself  up  as  king  of  France,  and  imprisoned  Charles  the 
Simple,  who  craved  assistance  from  the  German  monarch, 
to  whom  he  promised  to  perform  homage  as  his  liege  lord.* 


1  He  had  said,  "If  I  do  not  make  every  Italian,  who  wears  spurs,  ride  a 
mare,  my  name  is  not  Burkhard. " — Sigonius. 

8  Se  et  Franciam  Henrico  regi  submittit,  says  Vincentius  Bellovacensis.  In 
testimony  of  the  sincerity  of  his  promise,  he  sent  the  hand  of  St.  Dionysius,  the 
patioii  saint  of  France,  set  in  gold  and  precious  stones. 


THE   SAXON  EMPERORS  353 

Henry,  meanwhile,  contented  himself  with  expelling  Rudolf 
from  Lothringia,  and  after  taking  possession  of  Metz,  be- 
stowed that  dukedom  upon  Gisilbrecht,  the  son  of  Regingar, 
and  reincorporated  it  with  the  empire.  These  successes  now 
roused  the  apprehensions  of  the  Hungarians,  who  again 
poured  their  invading  hordes  across  the  frontier.  In  926, 
they  plundered  St.  Gall,  but  were  routed  near  Seckingen  by 
the  peasantry,  headed  by  the  country  people  of  Hirminger, 
who  had  been  roused  by  alarm-fires;  and  again  in  Elsace, 
by  Count  Liutfried:  another  horde  was  cut  to  pieces  near 
Bleiburg,  in  Carinthia,  by  Eberhard  and  the  Count  of  Meran. 
The  Hungarian  king,  probably  Zoldan,  was,  by  chance,  taken 
prisoner  during  an  incursion  by  the  Germans,  a  circumstance 
turned  by  Henry  to  a  very  judicious  use.  He  restored  the 
captured  prince  to  liberty,  and  also  agreed  to  pay  him  a 
yearly  tribute,  on  condition  of  his  entering  into  a  solemn 
truce  for  nine  years.  The  experience  of  earlier  times  had 
taught  Henry  that  a  completely  new  organization  was  neces- 
sary in  the  management  of  military  affairs  in  Germany,  be- 
fore this  dangerous  enemy  could  be  rendered  innoxious,  and 
as  an  undertaking  of  this  nature  required  time,  he  prudently 
resolved  to  incur  a  seeming  disgrace,  by  means  of  which  he 
in  fact  secured  the  honor  of  the  state.  During  this  interval 
of  nine  years  he  aimed  at  bringing  the  other  enemies  of  the 
empire,  more  particularly  the  Slavi,  into  subjection,  and 
making  preparations  for  an  expedition  against  Hungary  by 
which  her  power  should  receive  a  fatal  blow. 

In  the  meantime,  Gisilbrecht,  the  youthful  duke  of  Loth- 
ringia, again  rebelled,  but  was  besieged  and  taken  prisoner 
in  Zulpich  by  Henry,  who,  struck  by  his  noble  appearance, 
restored  to  him  his  dukedom,  and  bestowed  upon  him  his 
daughter,  Gerberga,  in  marriage.  Rudolf  of  France  also 
sued  for  peace,  being  hard  pressed  by  his  powerful  rival, 
Hugo  the  Great  or  Wise,  the  son  of  Robert.  Charles  the 
Simple  was,  on  Henry's  demand,  restored  to  liberty,  but 
quickly  fell  anew  into  the  power  of  his  faithless  vassals. 

Peace  was  now  established  throughout  the  empire,  and 


354  THE   HISTORY   OF    GERMANY 

afforded  Henry  an  opportunity  for  turning  his  attention  to 
the  introduction  of  measures,  in  the  interior  economy  of  the 
state,  calculated  to  obviate  for  the  future  the  dangers  that 
had  hitherto  threatened  it  from  without.  The  best  expedi- 
ent against  the  irruptions  of  the  Hungarians  appeared  to 
him  to  be  the  circumvallation  of  the  most  important  dis- 
tricts, the  erection  of  forts  and  of  fortified  cities.  The  most 
important  point,  however,  was  to  place  the  garrisons  imme- 
diately under  him,  as  citizens  of  the  state,  commanded  by  his 
immediate  officers,  instead  of  their  being  indirectly  governed 
by  the  feudal  aristocracy,  and  by  the  clergy.  As  these  gar- 
risons were  intended,  not  only  for  the  protection  of  the  walls, 
but  also  for  open  warfare,  he  had  them  trained  to  fight  in 
rank  and  file,  and  formed  them  into  a  body  of  infantry, 
whose  solid  masses  were  calculated  to  withstand  the  furious 
onset  of  the  Hungarian  horse.  These  garrisons  were  solely 
composed  of  the  ancient  freemen,  and  the  whole  measure 
was,  in  fact,  merely  a  reform  of  the  ancient  arrier-ban,  which 
no  longer  sufficed  for  the  protection  of  the  state,  and  whose 
deficiency  had  long  been  supplied  by  the  addition  of  vassals 
under  the  command  of  their  temporal  or  spiritual  lieges,  and 
by  the  mercenaries  or  body-guards  of  the  emperors.  The  an- 
cient class  of  freemen,  who  originally  composed  the  arrier- 
ban,  had  been  gradually  converted  into  feudal  vassals;  but 
they  were  at  that  time  still  so  numerous  as  to  enable  Henry 
to  give  them  a  completely  new  military  organization,  which 
at  once  secured  to  them  their  freedom,  hitherto  endangered 
by  the  preponderating  power  of  the  feudal  aristocracy,  and 
rendered  them  a  powerful  support  to  the  throne.  By  collect- 
ing them  into  the  cities,  he  afforded  them  a  secure  retreat 
against  the  attempts  of  the  Grafs,  dukes,  abbots,  and  bishops, 
and  created  for  himself  a  body  of  trusty  friends,  of  whom  it 
would  naturally  be  expected  that  they  would  ever  side  with 
the  emperor  against  the  nobility. 

This  new  regulation  appears  to  have  been  founded  on 
the  ancient  mode  of  division.  At  first,  out  of  every  nine 
freemen  (which  recalls  the  decania)  one  only  was  placed 


THE   SAXON  EMPERORS  355 

within  the  new  fortress,  and  the  remaining  eight  were  bound 
(perhaps  on  account  of  their  ancient  association  into  corpora- 
tions or  guilds)  to  nourish  and  support  him ;  but  the  remain- 
ing freemen,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  new  cities,  appear 
to  have  been  also  gradually  collected  within  their  walls,  and 
to  have  committed  the  cultivation  of  their  lands  in  the  vicin- 
ity to  their  bondsmen.  However  that  may  be,  the  ancient 
class  of  freemen  completely  disappeared,  as  the  cities  in- 
creased in  importance,  and  it  was  only  among  the  wild 
mountains,  where  no  cities  sprang  up,  that  the  centen  or 
cantons  and  whole  districts  or  gauen  of  free  peasantry  were 
to  be  met  with. 

Henry's  original  intention  in  the  introduction  of  this  new 
system  was,  it  is  evident,  solely  to  provide  a  military  force 
answering  to  the  exigencies  of  the  state ;  still  there  is  no  rea- 
son to  suppose  him  blind  to  the  great  political  advantage  to 
be  derived  from  the  formation  of  an  independent  class  of 
citizens,  and  that  he  had  in  reality  premeditated  a  civil  as 
well  as  a  military  reformation  may  be  concluded  from  the 
fact  of  his  having  established  fairs,  markets,  and  public  as- 
semblies, which,  of  themselves,  would  be  closely  connected 
with  civil  industry,  within  the  walls  of  the  cities;  and,  even 
if  these  trading  warriors  were  at  first  merely  feudatories  of 
the  emperor,  they  must  naturally  in  the  end  have  formed  a 
class  of  free  citizens,  the  more  so,  as,  attracted  within  the 
cities  by  the  advantages  offered  to  them,  their  number  rapidly 
and  annually  increased. 

The  same  military  reasons  which  induced  the  emperor 
Henry  to  enroll  the  ancient  freemen  into  a  regular  corps  of 
infantry,  and  to  form  them  into  a  civil  corporation,  caused 
him  also  to  metamorphose  the  feudal  aristocracy  into  a  regu- 
lar troop  of  cavalry  and  a  knightly  institution.  The  wild 
disorder  with  which  the  mounted  vassals  of  the  empire,  the 
dukes,  grafs,  bishops,  and  abbots,  each  distinguished  by  his 
own  banner,  rushed  to  the  attack,  or  vied  with  each  other 
in  the  fury  of  the  assault,  was  now  changed  by  Henry,  who 
was  well  versed  in  every  knightly  art,  to  the  disciplined  ma- 


356  THE   HISTORY    OF   GERMANY 

neuvers  of  the  line,  and  to  that  of  fighting  in  close  ranks, 
so  well  calculated  to  withstand  the  furious  onset  of  their 
Hungarian  foe.  The  discipline  necessary  for  carrying  these 
new  military  tactics  into  practice  among  a  nobility  habitu- 
ated to  license  could  alone  be  enforced  by  motives  of  honor, 
and  Henry  accordingly  formed  a  chivalric  institution,  which 
gave  rise  to  new  manners,  and  to  an  enthusiasm  that  im- 
parted a  new  character  to  the  age.  The  tournament,  from 
the  ancient  verb  turnen,  to  wrestle  or  fight,  a  public  contest 
in  every  species  of  warfare,  carried  on  by  the  knights  in  the 
presence  of  noble  dames  and  maidens,  whose  favor  they 
sought  to  gain  by  their  prowess,  and  which  chiefly  con- 
sisted of  tilting  and  jousting  either  singly  or  in  troops,  the 
day  concluding  with  a  banquet  and  a  dance,  was  then  insti- 
tuted. In  these  tournaments  the  ancient  heroism  of  the 
Germans  revived;  they  were  in  reality  founded  upon  the 
ancient  pagan  legends  of  the  heroes  who  carried  on  an 
eternal  contest  in  their  Walhalla,  in  order  to  win  the  smiles 
of  the  "Walkyren,  now  represented  by  earth's  well-born 
dames. 

The  ancient  spirit  of  brotherhood  in  arms,  which  had 
been  almost  quenched  by  that  of  self-interest,  by  the  desire 
of  acquiring  feudal  possessions,  by  the  slavish  subjection  of 
the  vassals  under  their  lieges,  and  by  the  intrigues  of  the 
bishops,  who  intermeddled  with  ah1  feudal  matters,  also  re- 
appeared. A  great  universal  society  of  Christian  knights, 
bound  to  the  observance  of  peculiar  laws,  whose  highest  aim 
was  to  fight  only  for  God  (before  long  also  for  the  ladies), 
and  who  swore  never  to  make  use  of  dishonorable  means 
for  success,  but  solely  to  live  and  to  die  for  honor,  was 
formed ;  an  innovation  which,  although  merely  military  in 
its  origin,  speedily  became  of  political  importance,  for,  by 
means  of  his  knightly  honor,  the  little  vassal  of  a  minor  lord 
was  no  longer  viewed  as  a  mere  underling,  but  as  a  confed- 
erate in  the  great  universal  chivalric  fraternity.  There  were 
also  many  freemen  who  sometimes  gained  their  livelihood 
by  offering  their  services  to  different  courts,  or  by  robbing 


THE   SAXON  EMPERORS  35? 

on  the  highways,  and  who  were  too  proud  to  serve  on  foot; 
Henry  offered  them  free  pardon,  and  formed  them  into  a 
body  of  light  cavalry.  In  the  cities,  the  free  citizens,  who 
were  originally  intended  only  to  serve  as  foot  soldiery,  ap- 
pear ere  long  to  have  formed  themselves  into  mounted  troops, 
and  to  have  created  a  fresh  body  of  infantry  out  of  their  ar- 
tificers and  apprentices.  It  is  certain  that  every  freeman 
could  pretend  to  knighthood. 

Although  the  chivalric  regulations  ascribed  to  the  em- 
peror Henry,  and  to  his  most  distinguished  vassals,  may 
not  be  genuine,  they  offer  nevertheless  infallible  proofs  of 
the  most  ancient  spirit  of  knighthood.  Henry  ordained  that 
no  one  should  be  created  a  knight  who  either  by  word  or  by 
deed  injured  the  holy  church;  the  Pfalzgraf  Conrad  added, 
"no  one  who  either  by  word  or  by  deed  injured  the  holy 
German  empire";  Hermann  of  Swabia,  "no  one  who  in- 
jured a  woman  or  a  maiden";  Berthold,  the  brother  of  Ar- 
nulf  of  Bavaria,  "no  one  who  had  ever  deceived  another  or 
had  broken  his  word";  Conrad  of  Franconia,  "no  one  who 
had  ever  run  away  from  the  field  of  battle."  These  appear 
to  have  been,  in  fact,  the  first  chivalric  laws,  for  they  spring 
from  the  spirit  of  the  times,  while  all  the  regulations  con- 
cerning nobility  of  birth,  the  number  of  ancestors,  the  exclu- 
sion of  all  those  who  were  engaged  in  trade,  etc.,  are,  it  is 
evident  from  their  very  nature,  of  a  much  later  origin. 

CXXXIII.    Conquests  in  the  Slavian  Northeast — Defeat 
of  the  Hungarians 

THE  systematic  reduction  of  the  Slavian  north  of  Ger- 
many beneath  his  rule  was  one  of  the  great  projects  of  the 
emperor;  and,  when  the  recollection  of  the  unfortunate 
Slavian  nations,  thinned  by  bloody  defeats,  deprived  of 
their  ancient  privileges,  forcibly  converted  to  Christianity, 
and  obliged  to  adopt  the  German  language,  strange  and 
unfamiliar  to  them,  recurs,  the  barbarity  of  these  measures 
would  naturally  rouse  indignation;  still,  the  inquiry  whether 


358  THE    HISTORY   OF    GERMANY 

they  were  not  induced  by  necessity  or  for  safety  is  but  just. 
The  Slavi  had  long  made  common  cause  with  the  Hunga- 
rians, whom  they  assisted  in  their  predatory  excursions 
against  the  Germans,  whom  they  attacked  in  the  rear, 
while  engaged  in  defending  themselves  against  their 
dreaded  foe,  and  the  consequent  peril  in  which  the 
empire  stood,  together  with  the  alternative  of  destroy- 
ing or  of  being  destroyed,  rendered  victory  necessary  at 
whatever  price.  The  whole  of  the  empire,  as  far  as  Loth- 
ringia  and  Bremen,  was  laid  waste  by  the  repeated  inva- 
sions of  the  lawless  Hungarians  and  their  Slavian  allies. 
The  whole  of  Austria,  as  far  as  the  Enns,  had  been  severed 
from  the  state  by  the  conquering  Hungarians,  while  the 
Slavi  attempted  to  spread  themselves  northward  as  far  as 
the  Weser.  Had  the  emperor  spared  the  Slavi,  and  neg- 
lected to  disarm  them  during  his  truce  with  the  Hunga- 
rians, they  would  certainly  have  assisted  them  in  their  first 
irruption,  and  might  possibly  have  brought  the  empire  to 
the  brink  of  destruction.  The  subjection  of  heathen  nations 
was,  moreover,  regarded  in  those  times  as  a  meritorious 
work,  inasmuch  as  they  were,  by  that  means,  forced  to 
embrace  Christianity. 

The  ancient  Obotrites  maintained  themselves  in  Mecklen- 
burg, protected  by  their  forests  and  lakes,  and  by  their  oft- 
tried  valor,  while  the  disunited  Serbian  tribes,  the  Hevelli 
on  the  Havel,  the  Daleminzii  on  the  Middle  Elbe,  and  the 
Redarii  on  the  Prieguitz,  whose  territory  chiefly  consisted 
of  open  country,  and  who,  in  the  moment  of  danger,  were 
abandoned  by  their  fellow  tribes,  could  offer  but  a  feeble 
resistance.  It  was,  therefore,  upon  them  that  Henry  first 
turned  his  arms.  In  926,  he  marched  against  the  Hevelli, 
seized  their  capital,  Brannibor  (Brandenburg),  converted 
their  country  into  a  frontier  of  the  empire,  placed  it  un- 
der the  jurisdiction  of  a  Saxon  Markgraf,  colonized  it  with 
Christian  Germans,  and  left  no  means  untried  in  order  to 
Germanize  the  inhabitants. 

In  the   following  year,  A.D.  927,  he  entered  Bohemia, 


THE   SAXON  EMPERORS  359 

and  took  possession  of  Prague,  where,  after  the  fall  of  the 
Moravian  kingdom  of  the  Christian  Borziwoi,  his  son,  Spig- 
nitew,  who  had  relapsed  into  paganism,  maintained  himself 
with  the  aid  of  the  Hungarians,  whom  he  assisted  on  every 
occasion  against  the  Germans.  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
brother  Wratislaw,  who  wedded  Drahomira,  a  pagan  Hevel- 
lian  princess.  Drahomira,  inspired  by  her  hereditary  enmity 
against  the  Germans,  caused  all  the  Christians,  among  oth- 
ers her  mother-in-law,  St.  Ludmilla,  to  be  assassinated,  and 
Henry  entered  the  country  under  pretext  of  avenging  their 
martyrdom.  Drahomira  sought  safety  in  flight.  Her  son, 
"Wenzel,  afterward  surnamed  the  Holy,  took  the  oath  of  al- 
legiance to  the  emperor,  and  was  enabled,  by  the  successes  of 
the  Germans,  to  make  use  of  peaceable  means  for  the  con- 
version of  his  terror-stricken  subjects. 

The  subjection  of  the  Hevelli  and  of  the  Bohemians  now 
placed  the  Daleminzii  at  the  mercy  of  the  conqueror.  Henry 
invaded  their  country,  A.D.  928,  took  Grona,  their  metropo- 
lis, and  built  the  fortress  of  Meissen  on  the  Elbe.  It  appears 
that  the  Slavian  Parathani  (inhabitants  of  Baireuth),  who 
are  mentioned  in  the  history  of  St.  Emmeram,  had,  at  an 
earlier  period,  been  converted  by  the  monks  of  Ratisbon  and 
Nuremberg.  The  fortresses  of  Saalfeld,  Orlamund,  Rudol- 
stadt,  Leuchtenburg,  Lobeda,  Dornburg,  Naumburg,  were 
erected  on  the  Saal,  now  become  the  line  of  demarcation 
between  the  Germans  and  the  Slavi.  Weimar  also  received 
its  name  from  Wenden  Mark,  or  the  Wendian  frontier. 

The  Redarii  had  driven  away  their  chief,  Bernhard,  who, 
there  is  no  doubt,  had  embraced  Christianity.  This  brave 
warrior  was  sent  by  Henry  against  his  countrymen,  who, 
well  aware  of  the  fate  that  awaited  them,  made  such  a  des- 
perate resistance  at  Lunkin  (Lenzen)  that  their  whole  army, 
with  the  exception  of  eight  hundred,  who  were  made  prison- 
ers, fell  on  the  field  of  battle,  A.D.  930.  Numbers  flung 
themselves  in  despair  into  a  lake.  This  terrible  defeat  filled 
the  neighboring  Slavian  tribes  with  consternation. 

The  truce  had  now,  A.D.  933,  expired,  and  embassadors 


360  THE   HISTORY   OF    GERMANY 

were  sent  from  Hungary  to  demand  the  payment  of  the  an- 
cient tribute.  According  to  the  legendary  account,  Henry 
caused  a  mutilated  mangy  dog  to  be  thrown  before  them, 
and  declared  a  deadly  war  with  their  nation.  The  Hunga- 
rians instantly  crossed  the  frontier  in  two  enormous  hordes, 
the  lesser  of  which,  50,000  strong,  was  encountered  by  the 
arrier-ban  of  Saxony  and  Thuringia  near  Sondershausen  and 
entirely  routed.  The  other  and  more  numerous  body  ad- 
vanced along  the  Saal  in  the  vicinity  of  Merseburg  against 
the  emperor,  and  laid  siege  to  the  fortress  of  a  certain  "Wido, 
who,  according  to  Wittekind's  account,  had  married  a  natu- 
ral daughter  of  the  emperor,  and  possessed  immense  treas- 
ures. Henry,  meanwhile,  intrenched  himself  on  a  moun- 
tain, since  known  as  the  Keuschberg,  or  mountain  of 
chastity,  owing  to  the  circumstance  of  no  woman  being: 
permitted  to  enter  the  camp  of  the  Christians,  who  strength- 
ened themselves  for  the  coming  conflict  by  devotional  exer- 
cises. The  news  of  the  defeat  of  their  countrymen  at  Son- 
dershausen soon  reached  the  Hungarians,  who  instantly 
kindled  enormous  fires  along  the  banks  of  the  river,  as 
signals  of  recall  to  those  of  their  number  who  were  en- 
gaged in  plundering  the  country,  and  the  battle  commenced 
with  the  coming  morn.  Henry  addressed  his  troops,  who 
unanimously  swore  to  die  on  the  field  or  to  annihilate  their 
foes.  The  picture  of  St.  Michael,  the  defender  of  heaven, 
was  borne  in  the  van,  as  the  banner  of  the  empire.  A  mur- 
derous struggle  commenced,  the  Hungarians  shouting,  "Hui! 
Hui!" — the  Germans,  "Kyrieleison!"  Victory  long  wa- 
vered, but  was  at  length  decided  by  the  discipline  and  en- 
thusiastic valor  of  the  Germans.  Thirty  thousand  Hunga- 
rians remained  on  the  field  of  battle;  the  remainder  fled. 
An  immense  number  of  Christian  slaves  were  restored  to 
liberty.  After  the  victory,  Henry  knelt,  at  the  head  of  his 
troops,  on  the  field,  and  returned  thanks  to  their  patron 
saint.  The  Hungarians  appear  to  have  been  everywhere 
cut  down  as  soon  as  they  were  overtaken.  Only  seven  of 
their  most  distinguished  chieftains  were  sent  back  alive  to 


THE   SAXON  EMPERORS  361 

their  countiy,  deprived  of  their  hands,  noses,  and  ears,  with 
the  injunction  for  the  future  to  remain  peaceably  at  home. 
The  terror  of  the  Hungarians  now  equaled  that  with  which 
they  had  formerly  inspired  the  Germans.  In  the  belief  that 
the  angel  Michael,  whose  gigantic  picture  they  ever  beheld 
borne  in  the  van  of  the  German  army,  was  the  god  of  vic- 
tory, they  made  golden  wings  similar  to  those  with  which 
he  was  represented  for  their  own  idols.  Germany  remained 
undisturbed  in  this  quarter  during  the  rest  of  this  reign.  An 
annual  festival,  held  in  the  village  of  Keuschberg,  still  cele- 
brates the  memory  of  this  great  victory.1 

Henry  now  turned  his  victorious  arms  against  the  Danes, 
who  had  secretly  invaded  the  empire.  He  pursued  them  as 
far  as  the  Slie,  on  whose  banks  he  erected  the  fortress  of 
Schleswig,  in  which  he  placed  a  German  garrison,  and 
forced,  A.D.  934,  Gorm  the  Old  to  abolish  the  horrid  na- 
tional sacrifice,  in  which  ninety-nine  men  were  offered  on 
the  altars  of  the  pagan  deities. 

The  following  year,  A.D.  935,  a  friendly  meeting  took 
place  between  him  and  the  kings  of  France  and  Burgundy 
on  the  Char,  a  tributary  of  the  Maas.  Henry  afterward 
planned  a  visit  to  Rome,  but  died  without  accomplishing 
that  project,  A.D.  936,  when  at  the  height  of  his  splendor 
and  renown.  He  was  buried  at  Quedlinburg,  his  favorite 
residence. 

CXXXIV.   Otto  the  First 

OTTO,  the  son  of  Henry,  was  unanimously  elected  as 
successor  to  the  throne.  The  feeling  of  respect  which  the 
newly-acquired  greatness  of  the  state  instilled  into  the  minds 
of  his  subjects,  conspired  with  his  own  love  of  magnificence 
and  display  to  render  the  coronation  of  this  youthful  prince 
a  scene  of  more  than  ordinary  solemnity.  The  choice  of 
Aix-la-Chapelle  as  the  theater  on  this  grand  occasion  dem- 

1  The  hand  of  the  emperor,  and,  underneath,  a  horseshoe,  are  still  to  be  seen 
there  cut  in  the  rock,  a  sign  of  victory,  as  may  also  be  seen  in  other  places,  fo? 
instance,  on  the  battlefield  of  Wolfisholz. 
GERMANY.    VOL.  I.— 16 


362  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

onstrated  the  high  expectations  universally  inspired  by  this 
new  sovereign,  on  whom  the  spirit  of  Charlemagne  seemed 
to  rest.  The  entire  nation,  the  clergy,  and  the  nobility,  vied 
with  each  other  in  surrounding  their  monarch  with  a  splen- 
dor equaling  that  with  which  the  first  emperor  had  been  en- 
vironed. The  gigantic  crown  of  Charlemagne,  the  scepter, 
the  sword,  the  cross,  the  sacred  lance,  and  the  golden  man- 
tle, now  became  objects  of  still  deeper  devotion.  The  arch- 
bishop of  Mayence  held  precedence,  by  the  ancient  respect 
attached  to  his  dignity,  in  the  ceremony  of  anointing;  the 
temporal  lords  performed  their  various  offices  in  person; 
Gisilbrecht  of  Lothringia  filled  that  of  chamberlain,  Eber- 
hard  of  Franconia,  that  of  carver,  Hermann  of  Swabia, 
that  of  cup-bearer,  Arnulf  of  Bavaria,  that  of  master  of 
the  horse.  These  new  and  honorable  offices  were  hence- 
forward retained  by  the  dukes.  Editha,  Otto's  wife,  the 
daughter  of  Edmund,  king  of  England,  was  also  crowned. 
Although  Otto  worthily  maintained  the  dignity  he  inherited 
from  his  father,  he  scarcely  merits  the  title  of  Great.  He 
was  not  endowed  with  the  winning  frankness  with  which 
his  more  simple-minded  father  had  gained  every  heart.  His 
manner  was  cold  and  haughty ;  he  surrounded  himself  with 
etiquette,  and,  although  by  no  means  wanting  in  personal 
bravery,  owed  his  success  more  to  his  craftiness  and  good 
fortune  than  to  his  generosity  and  magnanimity. ' 

The  death  of  Henry  was  the  signal  for  a  general  insurrec- 
tion among  the  Slavians  and  Hungarians.  The  Redarii  re- 
volted, A.D.  936,  but  were  again  reduced  to  submission  by 
a  Saxon  army  sent  against  them  by  the  emperor,  under  the 
command  of  Hermann  Billung,2  a  brave  and  skillful  leader. 
In  the  following  year  the  Hungarians  made  an  inroad  into 

1  Wittekind  says:  "His  demeanor  was  replete  with  majesty.  His  white  hair 
waved  over  his  shoulders.  His  eyes  were  bright  and  sparkling,  his  beard  of  an 
extraordinary  length,  his  breast  like  that  of  a  lion,  and  covered  with  hair. ' ' 

8  According  to  the  popular  legend,  Hermann  was  tending  sheep  near  Stube- 
keshorn,  when  the  Emperor  Otto  chanced  to  cross  the  field.  Hermann  stopped 
the  carriage  and  refused  to  allow  it  to  be  driven  over  his  father's  meadow.  The 
emperor,  pleased  with  the  gigantic  stature  and  high  spirit  of  the  shepherd  boy, 
took  him  into  his  service. 


THE   SAXON  EMPERORS  363 

Saxony,  but  were  defeated  by  Otto  in  an  unknown  spot, 
and  pursued  as  far  as  Metz ;  the  rapidity  of  their  movements 
during  their  predatory  incursion  having  led  them  across  the 
Rhine  almost  to  the  French  frontier. 

These  events  were  followed  by  disturbances  in  the  inte- 
rior of  the  empire,  and  by  family  disputes.  Henry  had,  by 
his  first  marriage  with  the  princess  of  Hatburg,  a  son  named 
Thankmar  (or  Tammo),  to  whom  the  succession  rightfully 
belonged,  but,  becoming  enamored  of  the  beautiful  Matilda, 
he  divorced  his  wife,  under  pretext  of  her  having  been  des- 
tined for  the  cloister.  He  had  three  sons  by  Matilda,  Otto, 
Henry,  and  Bruno,  the  first  of  whom  he  named  as  his  suc- 
cessor on  the  throne,  which  Matilda  coveted  for  her  hand- 
some and  favorite'  son,  Henry.  Great  family  dissensions 
arose  from  these  circumstances,  not  dissimilar  to,  and  as 
odious,  although  more  fortunate  in  their  result  to  the  em- 
peror, as  those  that  disturbed  the  reign  of  Louis  the  Pious. 

The  fate  of  the  luckless  Thankmar  excited  a  feeling 
of  commiseration  equaling  that  with  which  Bernhard,  the 
grandson  of  Louis  the  Pious,  had  formerly  been  viewed. 
Not  content  with  having  deprived  him  of  the  imperial  throne, 
Otto  also  seized  his  large  maternal  inheritance  in  Saxony, 
and  bestowed  it  upon  the  Markgraf  Gero,  who,  together  with 
Billung,  guarded  the  Slavian  frontier.  Thankmar  rebelled, 
and  was  upheld  by  the  Saxons.  He  was  also  joined  by  Eber- 
hard,  duke  of  Franconia,  the  same  who,  at  the  desire  of  his 
brother,  the  Emperor  Conrad,  transferred  the  crown  to  the 
Saxon  Henry.  On  the  death  of  that  emperor,  he  attempted 
to  assert  his  claim  to  the  imperial  dignity,  being  partly  in- 
fluenced by  the  hatred  he  bore  to  Otto,  by  whom  he  had 
been  injured. 1  The  rebels  also  attempted  to  gain  over  Henry, 
Otto's  younger  brother,  whom  Thankmar  contrived  to  cany 

1  Bruning,  a  Saxon  vassal  of  the  Franconian  duke,  was  induced  by  his 
hereditary  and  national  dislike,  to  rebel  against  his  liege,  who,  in  revenge,  razed 
his  castle  of  Elmeri  to  the  ground,  and  put  all  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword.  la 
order  to  punish  this  cruelty,  Otto  laid  a  heavy  fine  upon  the  duke,  and  con- 
demned the  perpetrators  of  the  dreadful  deed  (Eberhard's  most  trusty  vassals) 
to  carry  dogs. 


364  THE    HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

off  from  his  castle  of  Badliki  on  the  Ruhr.  The  emperor 
marched  against  the  insurgents;  Thankmar  was  besieged 
in  the  Eresburg,  and  slain  at  the  foot  of  the  altar,  whither 
he  had  fled  for  safety;  Eberhard,  abandoned  by  the  greater 
part  of  his  followers,  fell  at  the  feet  of  the  imprisoned  Henry, 
whom  he  besought  to  intercede  in  his  behalf  with  the  em- 
peror. To  his  surprise,  Henry  replied  that  he  was  willing 
to  join  with  him  in  his  designs  against  Otto,  in  order  to  de- 
prive him  of  the  crown,  which  he  coveted  for  himself.  For 
the  present  the  two  confederates  dissembled  their  projects, 
and  Eberhard  made  his  submission  to  Otto  with  expressions 
of  the  deepest  contrition  for  his  guilt. 

Henry,  meanwhile,  strengthened  the  conspiracy  by  gain- 
ing over  to  his  party  the  sons  of  Arnulf  of  Bavaria,1  who 
had  died  not  long  before,  Eberhard,  Arnulf,  Hermann,  and 
Louis,  the  archbishop  Frederick  of  Mayence,  who  aimed  at 
the  attainment  of  a  pre-eminence  in  the  state  similar  to  that 
formerly  enjoyed  by  Hatto  and  Gisilbrecht  of  Lothringia. 
Louis,  surnamed  "Over  the  Sea" — a  son  of  Charles  the  Sim- 
ple, who,  in  his  early  youth,  had  taken  refuge  in  England, 
whence,  after  the  decease  of  Rudolf  of  Burgundy,  A.D.  936, 
he  had  been  recalled  by  Hugo,  Count  of  Paris,  surnamed 
the  Great,  or  the  Wise,  and  placed  on  the  throne  of  France — 
was  also  invited  to  join  the  rebels,  but  refused,  and  sought 
to  strengthen  himself  by  an  alliance  with  Otto.  The  con- 
spirators now  contrived  to  draw  the  emperor  to  the  Rhine, 
while  Gisilbrecht  gave  the  first  signal  for  revolt,  by  rising 
in  open  rebellion,  and  at  the  moment  when  a  division  of 
Otto's  Saxon  army  had  crossed  the  Rhine  at  Zante,  Henry, 

1  He  is  said  to  have  despoiled  Ulrich,  bishop  of  Augsburg,  to  whom,  when 
in  return  he  threatened  him  with  the  vengeance  of  heaven,  he  sent  a  goblet 
filled  with  wine  from  his  table  in  proof  of  his  welfare.  The  bishop  said  to  the 
vassal  who  bore  it,  "Return  whence  you  came,  your  master  is  dead":  and  so  it 
proved.  According  to  another  popular  account,  the  devil  broke  his  neck  and 
threw  his  body  into  the  lake  at  Scheyern.  An  ancient  manuscript  preserved  at 
Tegern  records : 

"This  is  Arnulf  duke  of  Bavaria, 

Who  still  lies  in  the  lake  at  Dscheiren, 

Whose  neck  the  devil  broke 

For  his  evil  deeds." 


THE  SAXON  EMPERORS  365 

who,  under  color  of  aiding  his  brother,  had  marched  thither 
at  the  head  of  his  vassals,  suddenly  declared  in  favor  of  Gisil- 
brecht,  and  fell  upon  them  sword  in  hand.  In  this  extrem- 
ity, Otto  fell  upon  his  knees  before  the  sacred  lance,  and  in- 
voked the  aid  of  heaven.  A  Saxon,  meanwhile,  shouted  in 
Italian,  "Run,  run";  and  the  Italian  mercenaries  in  the 
Lothringian  army,  being  seized  with  a  sudden  panic  at  the 
cry,  instantly  ran  away.  A  terrible  slaughter  ensued.  Eber- 
hard  and  the  archbishop  of  Mayence,  terrified  by  this  unex- 
pected disaster,  did  not  venture  to  declare  themselves,  and 
Henry,  who  had  been  wounded  in  the  melee,  fled  to  Merse- 
burg,  whither  the  emperor  was  enticed  in  order  to  relieve 
Gisilbrecht  in  his  quarters  on  the  Rhine.  At  the  same  time, 
the  Slavi  were  secretly  instigated  to  revolt.  The  plot  was, 
however,  betrayed  to  the  Markgraf  Gero,  who  invited  thirty 
of  the  Slavian  princes  to  a  banquet,  at  which  he  caused  them 
to  be  assassinated  when  in  a  state  of  intoxication,  A.D.  938, 
and  the  Slavi  attempting  to  revenge  this  act  of  treachery, 
Otto  was  forced  to  raise  the  siege  at  Merseburg,  and  to 
march  to  Gero's  assistance.  He,  at  the  same  time,  par- 
doned Henry,  in  the  hope  of  separating  him,  by  gentle  and 
conciliatory  measures,  from  Eberhard  and  Gisilbrecht. 

The  Hungarians,  who,  at  this  time,  made  a  fresh  irrup- 
tion into  the  empire,  suffered  two  bloody  defeats  in  the  Harz 
Mountains,  near  Stetteruburg  and  in  the  Dromling,  a  marshy 
forest,  whence  their  horses,  weary  with  the  heavy  rain  and 
the  nature  of  the  ground,  were  unable  to  extricate  them. 

While  Otto  was  engaged  in  opposing  the  Slavi,  who  had 
entirely  cut  to  pieces  a  Saxon  army  under  Haika,  and  again 
succeeded,  after  several  severe  engagements,  the  details  of 
which  have  not  been  recorded,  in  reducing  them  to  sub- 
mission, Gisilbrecht  won  over  the  French  monarch.  This 
intelligence  no  sooner  reached  the  ears  of  Otto  than  he 
hastened  to  besiege  Gisilbrecht  in  the  castle  of  Chevre- 
mont.  Gisilbrecht  secretly  escaped,  and  Otto,  being  forced 
by  the  state  of  affairs  in  Saxony  to  return  to  that  country, 
intrusted  the  defense  of  the  western  frontier  to  Immo,  the 


366  THE    HISTORY    OF   GERMANY 

Lothringian  Graf,  and  to  the  duke  of  Swabia,  who  had  re- 
mained firm  in  his  allegiance.  Louis  crossed  the  frontier  at 
the  head  of  a  numerous  army,  invaded  and  wasted  Elsace, 
which  was  bravely  defended  by  Hermann,  who  finally  com- 
pelled him  to  retreat.  Eberhard,  meanwhile,  seized  Breisach. 
Immo  was  closely  besieged.1  Eberhard  was  on  the  point  of 
being  proclaimed  and  anointed  king  at  Metz.  These  events 
quickly  recalled  Otto  from  Saxony,  in  order  to  lay  siege  to 
Breisach,  upon  which  the  archbishop  of  Mayence,  who,  until 
now,  had  pretended  to  favor  his  party,  and  who  was  in  his 
camp,  suddenly  threw  off  the  mask,  and  went  over  with 
his  numerous  adherents  to  the  enemy,  whose  principal  force 
was  assembled  near  Andernach,  and  was  merely  opposed  by 
a  small  body  of  troops  commanded  by  the  Graf  Conrad  Kurz- 
bold,  and  by  Udo,  brother  to  Hermann  of  Swabia,  the  for- 
mer of  whom,  perceiving  that  his  opponents  were  spread 
carelessly  feasting  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  suddenly  fell 
upon  them.  A  fearful  slaughter  ensued ;  Eberhard  fell  after 
a  desperate  struggle ; "  Gisilbrecht  was  drowned  in  the  Rhine; 
Otto's  party  triumphed ;  Breisach  surrendered ;  *  the  arch- 
bishop of  Mayence  was  taken  prisoner;  and  Henry,  who 
had  infringed  the  treaty  and  again  joined  the  rebels,  fled 
into  France.  The  rebellion  was  no  sooner  crushed  than 


1  The  legend  relates  that  Immo,  being  besieged  by  Gisilbrecht,  ordered 
beehives  to  be  thrown  among  the  besiegers,  who  were  put  to  flight  by  the 
enraged  insects. 

4  Eberhard,  the  monk  of  St.  Gall,  says,  Conrad,  surnamed  Kurzbold,  on 
account  of  his  strength  and  shortness  of  stature,  surprised  the  two  chiefs  when 
engaged  in  a  game  of  chess ;  with  a  single  blow  with  his  lance  he  foundered  the 
boat  in  which  Gisilbrecht  sought  to  escape  across  the  river,  and  slew  Eberhard 
on  the  bank.  Conrad  was  a  woman-hater.  His  deeds  are  recorded  in  the 
popular  ballads  of  that  period. 

3  The  poetical  legend  of  the  Eberstein  belongs  to  these  times.  Otto  besieged 
Graf  Eberhard  in  the  castle  of  Eberstein  in  the  valley  of  the  Murg,  and  being 
unable  to  carry  the  fortress  by  force,  had  recourse  to  artifice,  and  invited  the 
Graf  to  a  banquet,  secretly  intending  to  surprise  the  fort  during  his  absence. 
Eberhard  accepted  the  invitation,  but,  during  the  dance,  being  informed  of  the 
plot  by  Hedwig,  the  emperor's  sister,  he  stole  away  from  the  scene  of  festivity, 
and  repaired  to  his  castle,  where  he  had  again  armed  himself  before  the  arrival 
of  the  emperor's  troops.  Otto,  delighted  with  this  trait  of  courage,  pardoned  the 
Graf,  and,  as  a  pledge  of  his  favor,  bestowed  upon  him  the  hand  of  the  beautiful 
Hedwig. 


THE   SAXON   EMPERORS  367 

Otto  carried  his  plans  into  effect.  Louis  of  France  had 
found  means,  before  the  emperor  was  able  to  succor  Loth 
ringia,  to  seduce  Gerberga,  the  widow  of  Gisilbrecht,  whom 
he  married,  in  order  to  insure  the  possession  of  the  country. 
The  emperor,  however,  set  up  Graf  Otto,  who,  in  his  qual- 
ity of  guardian  to  Henry,  the  young  son  of  Gisilbrecht,  gov- 
erned Lothringia,  in  opposition  to  him.  Although  Eberhard's 
nearest  of  kin,  and  consequently  his  heir  in  Franconia,  was 
his  nephew,  Conrad  the  Red, '  Otto  divided  the  dukedom,  and 
bestowed  a  part  of  the  land  upon  his  vassal,  Graf  Udo  of 
Swabia.  Berthold,,  the  brother  of  Arnulf,  was  also  created 
duke  of  Bavaria,  to  the  exclusion  of  his  three  nephews. 

Gero,  meanwhile,  continued  to  oppose  the  Slavi,  and  again 
took  firm  footing  in  Brandenburg  after  the  assassination  of 
the  last  prince  of  the  Hevelli  by  the  traitor  Tugumin,  who 
had  been  bribed  to  commit  the  deed  by  Gero,  A.D.  940.  Otto 
invaded  France  in  person,  drove  Louis  as  far  as  the  Seine, 
and  made  a  treaty  with  Burgundy.  After  the  death  of  Ru- 
dolf II.,  king  of  that  country,  his  son  Conrad,  who  was  still 
in  his  minority,  was  placed  in  his  hands.  Henry  and  the 
archbishop  of  Mayence  sought  and  received  pardon;  never- 
theless, when,  in  941,  Otto  again  took  the  field  against  the 
Slavi,  and  his  troops  mutinied  on  account  of  the  difficulty 
of  their  position,  Henry  and  his  coadjutor,  the  archbishop, 
placed  themselves  at  the  head  of  a  fresh  conspiracy  against 
the  emperor,  whom  they  intended  to  assassinate  during  the 
celebration  of  Easter  at  Quedlinburg.  The  plot  was  discov- 
ered; Henry  fled,  but  threw  himself  in  penitential  garb 
shortly  afterward  at  the  feet  of  his  injured  brother,  who 
once  more  pardoned  him. 

A  short  peace  ensued.  A  personal  meeting  took  place, 
A.D.  942,  at  Vouzieres  between  Otto  and  Louis  of  France, 
and  peace  was  concluded.  In  944,  the  emperor  bestowed 
Lothringia,  on  the  death  of  Henry,  the  son  of  Gisilbrecht, 
and  that  of  his  guardian,  Otto,  on  Conrad  the  Red,  together 

1  Conrad  was  the  son  of  a  Count  Werner  and  of  a  daughter  of  the  emperor, 
Conrad  I. 


368  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

with  the 'hand  of  his  daughter  Luitgarde;  an  alliance  which 
united  the  Franconian  party  to  his  family  and  Lothringia 
to  the  empire.  The  old  duke,  Hermann  of  Swabia,  expired 
in  the  course  of  the  same  year,  and  Ludolf,  the  emperor's 
eldest  son,  who  had  married  Ida,  the  duke's  only  child,  be- 
came duke  in  his  stead.  In  the  following  year  the  death 
of  Berthold  of  Bavaria  also  took  place,  and  Henry,  who 
had  already  wedded  Judith,  Arnulf's  beauteous  widow, 
was  named  as  his  successor,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  sons 
of  both  Arnulf  and  Berthold.  The  emperor  was,  by  these 
means,  himself  duke  of  Saxony;  his  son,  duke  of  Swabia; 
his  brother,  duke  of  Bavaria ;  his  son-in-law,  duke  of  Fran- 
conia  and  Lothringia;  and  Conrad,  the  young  king  of  Bur- 
gundy, remained  a  hostage  at  his  court. 

In  944,  war  again  broke  out;  the  Hungarians  invaded 
the  empire,  but  were  defeated  in  Carinthia  by  Duke  Berthold, 
who  died  shortly  afterward.  France  was  also  disturbed  by 
the  struggle  between  the  unfortunate  Louis  and  the  great 
Count  Hugo  of  Paris,  who  was  aided  by  the  Normans,  for 
the  possession  of  the  crown.  Hugo  had,  up  to  this  period, 
been  on  friendly  terms  with  Otto,  whose  sister  Hedwig  he 
had  received  in  marriage.  Otto,  under  pretext  of  rescuing 
Louis  from  the  imprisonment  in  which  he  was  held  by  Hugo, 
to  whom  he  had  been  delivered  by  the  Normans,  invaded 
France,1  A.D.  947,  but  was  unsuccessful  in  his  attacks  against 
Paris  or  Rouen,  the  capital  of  Normandy.  Peace  was  at 
length  established  between  the  contending  parties  by  Con- 
rad of  Franconia.  Hugo  voluntarily  submitted,  and  Lothar, 
the  son  of  Louis,  succeeded  to  the  throne  on  the  death  of  his 
father,  A.D.  954.  Both  of  the  emperor's  sisters  had  married 
a  competitor  for  the  throne  of  France;  Gerberga,  Louis; 
and  Hedwig,  Hugo.  The  son  of  the  latter,  Otto's  nephew, 
the  celebrated  Hugh  Capet,  was  raised  to  the  throne  on  the 
extinction  of  the  Carlovingian  dynasty. 

1  Hugo  having  said,  vauntingly,  that  he  would  swallow  seven  Saxon  bolts  at 
a  gulp,  Otto  replied  that  he  would  strew  the  whole  of  France  with  the  straw 
hats  worn  by  his  soldiers  when  not  in  action. 


THE   SAXON  EMPERORS  369 

The  war  with  the  French  Normans  was  scarcely  concluded 
than  a  fresh  one  arose  between  Otto  and  their  brethren,  the 
Danes,  whose  king,  Harald  Blaatand,  or  Blue  Tooth,  con- 
quered Schleswig,  and  restored  the  Danewirk.  A  sangui- 
nary battle  took  place,  in  which  Otto  was  victorious.  He 
afterward  marched  in  triumph  through  Jutland  as  far  as 
the  Ottensund,  which  received  its  name  from  him.  Harald 
was  forced  to  submit  to  the  rite  of  baptism,  and  to  take  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  emperor,  who  restored  the  frontier, 
and  erected  Schleswig,  Biepen  and  Aarhus  into  bishoprics, 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  archbishopric  of  Hamburg,  A.D. 
948.  A  victory  was,  during  the  same  year,  gained  over  the 
Hungarians  by  Henry  of  Bavaria,  who,  A.D.  950,  for  the 
first  time,  invaded  their  territory,  whence  he  returned  laden 
with  immense  booty,  and  with  the  wives  and  children  of  the 
chiefs.  It  was  about  this  time  that  Otto  founded  new  bish- 
oprics as  a  means  of  increasing  his  power  in  the  conquered 
territory  of  the  Slavi,  Havelberg  in  946,  and  Brandenburg 
in  948,  within  the  march  of  Gero;  in  946,  he  also  founded 
Oldenburg  in  "Wagria,  which  country  had  just  been  reduced 
to  submission  by  Hermann  Billung,  who  had  taken  advan- 
tage of  the  feud  that  had  broken  out  between  Selibur,  prince 
of  the  "Wagrians,  and  Mistevoi,  prince  of  the  Obotrites.  The 
latter  was  persuaded  to  embrace  Christianity,  and  wedded 
the  sister  of  "Wago,  bishop  of  Oldenburg.  His  son,  "Wislau, 
relapsed  into  paganism.  After  having  thus  succeeded  in 
extending  and  securing  the  frontiers  of  the  empire,  Otto 
turned  his  attention  upon  Italy. 

CXXXV.   The  Reincorporation  of  Italy  with  the  Empire 

BERENGAR  II.  had  seized  the  government  of  Italy.  Adel- 
heid,  the  widow  of  Lothar,  fell  into  his  hands.  The  preten- 
sions of  this  princess  to  the  crown,  which  were  upheld  by  a 
strong,  although,  at  that  period,  suppressed  party,  and  her 
extraordinary  wit  and  beauty,  induced  Berengar  to  offer  to 
her  the  hand  of  his  son,  Adalbert,  who,  being  refused,  Beren- 


370  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

gar  imprisoned  her  in  a  fortress  on  the  lake  of  Como,  *  whence 
she  contrived  to  escape  to  the  castle  of  Canossa,  where  she 
concealed  herself.  Otto  had,  at  this  time,  not  long  become 
a  widower ;  he  sought,  moreover,  to  place  the  imperial  power 
on  a  firmer  basis,  by  the  addition  of  great  feudal  possessions, 
and  by  family  alliances.  In  pursuance  of  this  policy,  he  had 
only  set  governors,  who  were  chosen  from  among  his  trusti- 
est vassals,"  over  Saxony,  over  which  he  reigned  as  heredi- 
tary sovereign,  and  insured  the  allegiance  of  Franconia, 
Swabia,  and  Bavaria,  by  the  strict  connection  that  subsisted 
between  his  family  and  those  of  their  dukes.  An  extensive 
and  hereditary  feudal  tenure  in  Italy  had  long  been  an  ob- 
ject of  his  ambition.  The  earnest  solicitations  of  Adelheid 
for  assistance  met,  therefore,  with  a  favorable  reception,  and, 
A.D.  951,  he  hastened  across  the  Alps  to  the  relief  of  Canossa, 
at  that  time  closely  besieged,  and  was  rewarded  with  the 
hand  of  the  lovely  Adelheid  at  Pavia.  His  son,  Ludolf, 
fearing  to  share  a  fate  similar  to  that  of  the  unfortunate 
Thankmar,  quarreled  with  his  unwished-for  stepmother," 
and  suddenly  quitted  his  father,  accompanied  by  the  arch- 
bishop of  Mayence,  who  again  plotted  treason.  Otto,  sus- 
pecting their  designs,  and  anxious  to  prevent  mischief,  re- 
turned upon  this  to  Germany,  and  intrusted  the  conduct  of 
the  war  with  Berengar  to  Conrad  of  Lothringia,  who,  fully 
aware  of  the  immense  sacrifice  necessary  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  emperor's  prerogative  in  Italy,  offered  terms 
of  peace,  and  promised  a  full  pardon  and  the  possession  of 
his  lands  to  Berengar.  These  terms  offended  the  pride  of 
the  emperor,  who  refused  his  compliance,  and  threatened 
again  to  invade  Italy  in  person;  but  his  indignation  was 
speedily  mollified  by  the  submissive  behavior  of  Berengar, 

1  She  is  said  to  have  escaped  through  a  hole  that  was  bored  through  the 
wall  by  a  priest,  and  during  her  flight  was  so  closely  pursued  as  to  be  compelled 
to  conceal  herself  in  a  field  of  standing  corn. 

8  The  church  bells  of  Magdeburg  having  been  rung  in  honor  of  Hermann 
Billung,  by  order  of  the  archbishop,  Adalbert,  the  emperor  sentenced  him  to 
furnish  the  imperial  stables  with  as  many  horses  as  there  had  been  bells  rung 
on  that  occasion. 

a  She  was  nineteen  years  younger  than  the  emperor. 


THE   SAXON  EMPERORS  371 

who  repaired  to  Germany,  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  at 
Augsburg,  and  was  permitted  to  retain  undisturbed  posses- 
sion of  his  lands.  A  fresh  and  alarming  conspiracy  was, 
meanwhile,  secretly  ripening;  Ludolf,  whose  pride  had  al- 
ready been  deeply  mortified,  was  now  still  more  aggrieved 
by  the  conduct  of  his  uncle,  Henry  of  Bavaria,  who  had  en- 
tered into  a  close  connection  with  Adelheid,  through  whom 
he  governed  the  emperor.  A  dispute  that  arose  between 
the  uncle  and  nephew  concerning  the  boundaries  of  their 
lands  was  decided  in  favor  of  the  former,  by  the  emperor, 
who,  in  addition  to  the  extensive  dukedom  of  Bavaria,  which 
already  comprehended  Carinthia,  bestowed  upon  him  the 
meres  of  Verona  and  Aquileia. 

Ludolf's  sister,  the  wife  of  Conrad  the  Red,  to  whom 
Adelheid  was  greatly  obnoxious,  espoused  the  cause  of  her 
brother,  who  also  found  an  ally  in  her  husband,  whom  the 
emperor  had  irremediably  offended  by  his  invalidation  of 
the  promise  made  by  Conrad  to  Berengar.  The  scheme  of 
the  conspirators,  neither  of  whom,  at  first,  dreamed  of  open 
revolt,  merely  extended  to  the  exclusion  of  Henry,  to  whom, 
as  the  tool  of  Adelheid,  they  ascribed  every  evil  design,  from 
the  imperial  council.  This  they  openly  declared  to  the  em- 
peror at  Ingelheim,  and  threatened  to  imprison  Henry  if  he 
came  thither.  Otto,  unable  to  oppose  them  on  the  Rhine, 
where  Conrad  and  Ludolf  ruled  in  their  right  as  dukes,  made 
no  reply,  but,  on  his  return  to  Saxony,  gave  full  vent  to  his 
rage,  and  deposed  the  ungrateful  nobles,  A.D.  953.  The 
Lothringians  instantly  rebelled,  and  attempted  to  throw  off 
the  German  yoke,  but  were  defeated  by  Conrad  on  the  Maas : 
the  battle  lasted  a  whole  day.  Flushed  by  this  victory,  Con- 
rad turned  against  the  emperor,  who  had  advanced  as  far  as 
the  Rhine,  and  who,  aided  by  Henry  of  Bavaria,  laid  siege 
to  Mayence,  whose  archbishop  favored  the  rebels,  and  which 
was  for  some  time  defended  by  Ludolf  and  Conrad  against 
the  united  imperial  forces.  Terms  of  reconciliation  were  at 
length  proposed;  the  two  princes  came  forth,  and  threw 
themselves  at  the  feet  of  their  indignant  parent,  but  refus- 


372  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

ing  to  deliver  up  their  adherents,  whom  Otto  wished  to  bring 
to  execution,  not  so  much  from  revenge  as  from  political  mo- 
tives, in  order  to  weaken  their  party,  they  returned  to  the 
city  without  anything  being  concluded.  Immediately  after 
this,  the  Bavarians,  incited  by  Arnulf,  the  son  of  the  late 
duke,  rose  tumultuously  in  the  camp  against  Henry,  and 
declared  in  favor  of  Ludolf  and  Conrad,  who  again  quitted 
Mayence,  and  took  the  field  with  this  new  addition  to  their 
force,  which  received  a  fresh  accession  of  strength  by  the 
desertion  of  a  part  of  the  Saxons  under  the  command  of 
Ekbert,  a  nephew  of  Hermann  Billung.  A  fresh  body  of 
troops,  dispatched  from  Saxony  by  Hermann  Billung,  to  the 
assistance  of  the  emperor,  was  waylaid  and  defeated  by  Lu- 
dolf and  Conrad.  Their  commander,  "VVichmann,  another 
of  Hermann's  nephews,  also  joined  the  rebels.  Otto,  with 
characteristic  prudence,  sought  to  weaken  his  opponents  by 
separating  their  forces,  and,  with  that  intent,  created  his 
brother  Bruno,  the  archbishop  of  Cologne,  duke  of  Lothrin- 
gia.  Conrad  took  the  bait,  and  instantly  withdrew  across 
the  Rhine,  in  order  to  dispute  the  possession  of  that  coun- 
try. Hermann,  meanwhile,  drew  Ekbert  and  Wichmann 
toward  Saxony,  in  order  still  more  to  weaken  Ludolf  and 
Arnulf,  who  suffered  a  defeat  before  Augsburg,  which  city 
was  valiantly  defended  by  Bishop  Ulrich  and  his  vassals, 
A.D.  954.  The  conspirators  now  invited  the  Hungarians — 
who,  headed  by  their  king,  Pulzko  (Bulgio),  spoliated  both 
friend  and  foe — into  the  country,  under  pretext  of  aiding 
Conrad,  who  seized  and  plundered  Metz.  He  was  violently 
opposed  by  Bruno's  adherents,  and  at  length  became  so  ob- 
noxious to  the  people,  for  having  caused  this  new  inroad  of 
the  Hungarians,  and  so  terrified  at  the  cruelties  practiced 
by  them,  that  he  voluntarily  quitted  his  unnatural  allies, 
who,  after  vainly  besieging  Kammarich,  returned  to  their 
native  country  through  France  and  Italy,  burning  and  plun- 
dering as  they  advanced. 

The  Germans,  alarmed  by  these  disasters,  and  fearful  of 
the  event,  now  abandoned  the  leaders  of  the  rebellion,  and 


THE  SAXON  EMPERORS  373 

crowded  around  the  emperor,  who  held  a  diet  at  Cinna 
(Zeun),  where  Conrad  and  Frederick,  archbishop  of  May- 
ence,  made  their  submission.  Ludolf  and  Arnulf,  never- 
theless, obstinately  continued  to  defend  Ratisbon,  where, 
after  a  desperate  resistance,  Arnulf  was  killed  when  head- 
ing a  sally  against  the  enemy,  and  Ludolf,  finding  it  useless 
to  resist,  took  refuge  in  Swabia.  Ulrich,  bishop  of  Augs- 
burg, attempted  to  bring  about  a  reconciliation  between  the 
emperor  and  his  now  penitent  son,  who,  one  day,  when  the 
former  was  hunting,  suddenly  fell  at  his  feet  and  begged 
for  pardon.  He  met  with  a  favorable  reception,  but  was 
deprived  of  the  government  of  Swabia.  He  was  afterward 
sent  into  Italy  and  intrusted  with  the  command  of  an  army 
against  Berenger,  who  had  again  revolted.  He  there  met 
with  an  early  death.  The  dukedom  of  Swabia  was  bestowed 
upon  Burkhard,  the  son  of  the  elder  Burkhard,  and  a  rela- 
tive of  Bishop  Ulrich.  The  new  duke,  who  had  just  attained 
his  majority,  wedded  Hedwig,  the  daughter  of  Henry,  who 
was  reinstated  in  the  dukedom  of  Bavaria.  Conrad  was  de- 
prived of  Lothringia,  which  was  partitioned  between  the 
Grafs  Gottfried  and  Frederick,  the  former  of  whom  gov- 
erned the  upper,  the  latter  the  lower  country,  but  were  sub- 
ordinate to  Bruno,  the  archbishop  of  Cologne,  the  first  noble 
who  bore  the  title  of  archduke.  He  was  also  the  first  church- 
man who  exercised  such  great  temporal  authority,  so  adverse 
to  the  spirit  by  which  the  first  preachers  of  the  gospel  were 
guided;  but  Bruno  was  the  emperor's  brother,  and  Otto  had 
learned  from  experience  the  importance  of  intrusting  the 
ducal  power  solely  to  his  nearest  relatives  and  best-tried 
friends.  In  954,  Bruno  crowned  his  nephew  Lothar,  the 
son  of  Louis  Over-the-Sea,  who  had  just  expired,  king  of 
France. 

A  powerful  party  in  Bavaria,  headed  by  the  Count  "Wer- 
ner, brother  to  the  fallen  Arnulf,  were  induced  by  the  hatred 
they  bore  to  Henry  to  have  recourse  to  the  Hungarians, 
whom  they  invited  into  the  country.  Confident  of  success 
on  account  of  their  enormous  numerical  strength,  the  arro- 


374  THE    HISTORY   OF    GERMANY 

gant  barbarians  boasted  that  their  horses  should  drain  every 
river  in  Germany.  Augsburg,  whose  supposed  treasures  at- 
tracted their  cupidity,  was  besieged  by  them,  but  made  a 
brave  defense  under  the  command  of  Burkhard  of  Swabia. ' 
Their  king,  Bulzko,  was  encamped  at  Giinsburg.  Otto  in- 
stantly assembled  the  arrier-ban  of  the  entire  empire;  the 
Bohemians  united  their  forces  with  his;  the  Saxons,  at  that 
time  engaged  in  opposing  the  Slavi,  alone  failed.  The  two 
armies  came  within  sight  of  each  other  on  the  Lech,  near 
Augsburg.  Before  the  battle  commenced,  Otto  addressed 
his  troops,  as  his  father  had  done  on  a  similar  occasion,  and 
vowed,  when  referring  to  the  victory  won  by  Henry,  to  found 
a  bishopric  at  Merseburg,  if  God  granted  him  success.  It 
was  the  10th  of  August,  955.  The  sun  poured  with  intense 
heat  upon  the  plain.  The  Hungarians  rapidly  crossed  the 
Lech,  fell  upon  the  rear  of  the  German  army,  dispersed 
the  Bohemians,  and  were  pressing  hard  upon  the  Swabians, 
when  the  fortune  of  the  day  was  again  turned  by  Conrad, 
who,  anxious  to  retrieve  his  fault  and  to  regain  the  confi- 
dence of  his  master,  performed  miracles  of  valor  at  the  head 
of  the  Franconians.  The  emperor  struggled  sword  in  hand 
in  the  thickest  of  the  fight.  A  vast  number  of  the  enemy 
were  drowned  in  attempting  to  escape  across  the  river.  Con- 
rad was  mortally  wounded  in  the  neck  by  an  arrow  aimed  at 
him  by  one  of  the  fugitives,  when  in  the  act  of  raising  his 
helmet  in  order  to  breathe  more  freely.  A  hundred  thou- 
sand Hungarians  are  said  to  have  fallen  on  this  occasion. 
Two  of  their  princes,  Lehel  and  Bulcs,  were,  by  the  em- 
peror's command,  hanged  on  the  gates  of  Augsburg.  Ac- 
cording to  some  writers,  King  Bulzko  and  four  of  the  war- 
chiefs  were  hanged  before  the  gates  of  Ratisbon.8  Werner 

1  The  chiefs  drove  the  people  into  the  trenches  with  long  whips.  One, 
named  Lehel,  bore  an  enormous  horn,  whose  note  was  the  signal  for  the  be- 
siegers to  assemble.  During  a  sally  made  hy  the  weavers  of  Augsburg  they 
gained  possession  of  the  shield  of  the  Hungarian  king,  which  has  ever  since 
been  borne  by  their  guild. 

*  Dollinger,  a  citizen  of  Ratisbon,  greatly  distinguished  himself  on  a  former 
occasion,  by  overcoming,  in  single  combat,  a  gigantic  Hungarian,  whom  no  one 
ventured  to  attack.  The  memory  of  his  valor  has  been  handed  down  to  our 


THA    SAXON  EMPERORS  375 

was  killed  by  the  enraged  Hungarians,  but  few  of  whom 
escaped  to  their  country,  almost  the  whole  of  the  fugitives 
being  slain  or  hunted  down  like  wild  beasts  by  the  Bavarian 
peasants.  The  adherents  of  the  adverse  party  were  merci- 
lessly punished  by  Henry  of  Bavaria,  who  caused  them  to  be 
buried  alive  or  burned  in  beds  of  quicklime.  Herold,  bishop 
of  Salzburg,  was,  by  his  orders,  deprived  of  sight,  and  the 
patriarch  Lopus  of  Aquileia  met  with  a  still  more  wretched 
fate.  This  was  the  last  inroad  attempted  by  the  Hunga- 
rians, who,  for  the  future,  remained  within  their  frontier,  on 
their  side  equally  undisturbed  by  the  Germans.  The  booty 
was  so  enormous  that  a  peasant  is  said  to  have  had  a  silver 
plow  made  out  of  his  share.  The  innumerable  Hungarian 
horses  taken  on  this  occasion  also  gave  rise  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Keferloher  horse  fair. 

Henry  of  Bavaria,  Otto's  brother,  died  in  955,  and  was 
succeeded  in  the  government  of  Bavaria  and  Carinthia  by 
his  son  Henry,  surnamed  the  Wrangler.  Burkhard,  who 
had  succeeded  Ludolf  in  the  command  of  the  Italian  army, 
also  expired  shortly  after,  and  was  succeeded  in  the  duke- 
dom of  Swabia  by  his  widow,  Hedwig,  Otto's  niece,  who  was 
celebrated  for  her  beauty  and  learning.  This  is  the  first  ex- 
ample of  an  office  relating  to  the  empire  being  filled  by  a 
woman.  At  Hohentwiel,  her  residence  during  her  widow- 
hood, she  passed  her  days  in  study,  and  read  Virgil  with 
her  chancellor  Eckhard,  who  afterward  became  chaplain 
and  counsellor  to  the  emperor  Otto  II.,  and  also  served  the 
empress  Adelheid.  Franconia  remained  partitioned  between 
Otto,  the  son  of  Conrad,  and  his  cousin  Henry,  Markgraf  of 
Sweinfurt,  who  was  also  grandson  to  the  emperor  Conrad  I., 
through  his  father  Count  Bardo,  a  son  of  Burkhard  of  Thu- 
ringia,  who  had  wedded  one  of  that  emperor's  daughters. 

times  by  a  monument  and  by  the  popular  ballads.  The  city  of  Lauingen  also 
boasts  a  similar  incident.  A  shoemaker  of  Lauingen  is  said  to  have  killed  a 
gigantic  Hungarian,  whom  the  Marshal  of  Calatin  had  refused  to  meet  in  single 
combat.  For  this  valiant  deed,  the  Emperor  Otto  caused  the  black  Moor's 
head,  borne  by  the  family  of  Calatin,  to  be  inserted  in  the  arms  of  the  city  of 
Lauingen,  and  merely  allowed  the  Calatins  to  bear  the  figure  of  a  female  Moor 
on  their  shield. 


376  THE    HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

The  Slavi  were  again  humbled.  Ekbert  and  "Wichmann, 
Hermann  Billung's  nephews,  had  after  Ludolf 's  defeat  taken 
refuge  among  these  people  and  incited  them  to  open  rebel- 
lion. In  954,  the  Uchri  were  reduced  to  submission  by  Graf 
Gero,  but  in  the  following  year  almost  every  Slavian  tribe  in 
the  country  revolted  under  Nakko  and  Stoinef,  descendants 
of  the  ancient  royal  Hevellian  dynasty.  Hermann  Billung 
was  surrounded  and  besieged  at  Gartz,  and  although  prom- 
ised an  unmolested  retreat,  the  garrison  was  cut  to  pieces,1 
A.D.  955.  This  event  called  the  emperor  from  the  Lech,  and 
the  Slavi  were  quickly  repelled.  Stoinef  was  assassinated 
while  attempting  to  flee.  His  head  was,  by  the  emperor's 
order,  placed  upon  a  stake,  and  seventy  "Wends  were  be- 
headed in  a  circle  around  it.  Nakko  was  also  taken  prisoner 
and  beheaded.  Gero,  meanwhile,  zealously  labored  to  con- 
firm Germanic  rule  and  Christianity  simultaneously  in  the 
Slavian  territory,  where,  besides  the  tithes,  the  Grafs  exacted 
the  Wogewotinza,  the  bishops,  the  Biscowotinza,  two  op- 
pressive taxes ;  to  which  was  added  socage,  the  cruel  right 
of  the  conqueror  over  the  conquered,  so  contrary  to  the  doc- 
trine of  Christian  love  and  equality :  hence  the  hatred  with 
which  the  clergy  were  beheld  by  the  "Wends.  The  manner 
in  which  these  wretched  people  were  treated  is  best  described 
by  Ditmar  of  Merseburg,  who  remarks  in  his  Chronicle,  "The 
submissive  slave  must  eat  hay  like  an  ox,  and  be  beaten  like 
an  ass."  In  957,  Wichmann  again  incited  the  Rhedarii  to 
revolt,  but  without  success. 

"While  these  events  were  taking  place  in  Germany,  Beren- 
gar  remained  unmolested  in  Italy,  more  particularly  since  the 
death  of  Ludolf,  by  whom  he  had  been  narrowly  watched. 
Berengar  aimed  at  the  independent  sovereignty  of  Italy,  in 
which  he  was  upheld  by  the  majority  of  the  people,  whose 
national  pride  ill-brooked  the  despotic  rule  of  either  the  clergy 
or  the  Germans.  The  Lombard  bishops,  enraged  at  the  re- 
striction imposed  upon  them  by  Berengar,  sought  the  protec- 

1  Because  a  Saxon  bestowed  a  box  on  the  ear  on  a  Wend,  for  attempting  to 
force  from  him  his  wife,  who  was  also  a  Wend. 


THE   SAXON  EMPERORS  377 

tion  of  the  pope,  who  applied  for  aid  to  the  emperor.  The 
family  disputes  that  had  so  lately  troubled  Otto's  domestic 
peace,  the  struggle  with  the  Hungarians  and  the  Slavi,  had 
at  this  juncture  been  brought  to  a  favorable  termination, 
and  the  reincorporation  of  Italy  with  the  empire  again  be- 
came the  object  of  his  ambition;  accordingly,  after  causing 
his  son,  Otto  II.,  to  be  crowned  king  of  Germany  at  Aix-la- 
Chapelle,  and  intrusting  the  government  of  the  empire  to  his 
brother,  Bruno,  archbishop  of  Cologne,  and  to  his  illegiti- 
mate son,  William,  who  had  succeeded  Frederick  in  the  arch- 
bishopric of  Mayence,  he  crossed  the  Alps,  A.D.  961,  expelled 
Berengar,  and  for  the  first  time  entered  Rome,  where  the 
pope,  John  XII.  (a  son  of  Alberich),  was  compelled  to  crown 
him  emperor,  and  an  oath  was  imposed  upon  the  Romans 
rendering  it  illegal  for  them  to  elect  a  pope  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  emperor,  who  no  sooner  quitted  the  city  than  the 
pope  declared  the  oath  null  and  void,  and  retracted  his 
former  professions.  Otto  upon  this  returned,  convoked  a 
Concilium,  and  deposed  the  pope,  who  was  convicted  of  the 
most  disgraceful  vices.1  A  popular  commotion  was  the  im- 
mediate result,  and  Otto  was  alone  saved  by  the  intrepidity 
of  his  troops.  The  pope  was  taken  in  adultery  and  struck 
dead  on  the  spot  by  the  injured  husband.  The  Romans, 
without  referring  to  the  emperor,  elected  a  new  pope,  Bene- 
dict V.,  whom  Otto  cited  to  appear  before  him,  with  his  own 
hand  broke  his  crosier,  banished  him  to  Hamburg,  and  raised 
Leo  VIII.  in  his  stead  to  the  papal  chair.  About  the  same 
time,  Berengar,  after  long  and  valiantly  defending  the  moun- 
tain fort  of  St.  Leo,  was  compelled  to  surrender.  He  was 
exiled  to  Bamberg,  where  he  died.  His  son,  Adalbert,  fled 
to  Corsica. 

In  965  Otto  returned  to  Germany,  and  held  Whitsuntide 

1  This  pope  bestowed  the  sacred  vessels,  belonging  to  the  church  of  St. 
Peter,  upon  his  mistresses,  violated  the  most  beautiful  of  the  pilgrims  who 
visited  Rome,  drank  publicly  to  the  health  of  the  devil,  and,  while  gambling, 
invoked  the  pagan  deities.  His  granduncle,  King  Hugo,  had  the  same  inclina- 
tion toward  paganism.  Marozia  and  her  mother,  Theodora,  were  descended 
from  an  ancient  Roman  family,  and,  at  that  period,  Rome  still  possessed  count- 
less monuments  and  relics  of  antiquity. 


378  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

at  Cologne,  where  he  was  attended  by  all  the  German 
princes,  among  whom  appeared  Lothar  of  France.  Peace 
and  security  reigned  throughout  the  empire.  Graf  Wich- 
mann,  to  whom  the  emperor  had  extended  the  pardon  granted 
to  his  brother  Ekbert,  alone  sought  to  disturb  the  general 
tranquillity,  and  again  joined  the  pagan  Danes,  who  were 
attempting  to  gain  a  settlement  in  Pomerania,  where,  in  the 
time  of  Harald  Blaatand,  the  infamous  pirates'  nest,  the 
Jomsburg,  near  Wollin,  had  been  built.  He  may  possibly 
have  inspired  the  Wendi  with  fresh  courage.  The  Lusicri 
and  Selpuli  in  Lusatia  commenced  a  sanguinary  war  against 
Gero,  by  whom  they  were  reduced  to  submission.  The  deep 
affliction  of  this  Graf,  occasioned  by  the  death  of  his  nephew 
and  of  his  youthful  son,  both  of  whom  fell  in  battle,  induced 
him  on  the  termination  of  this  war  to  resign  his  office,  and  to 
make  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  where  he  laid  his  sword,  whose 
notches  bore  witness  to  many  a  fight,  at  the  foot  of  St.  Peter's 
shrine,  and  ended  his  days  within  the  cloister,  A.D.  965.  He 
was  the  founder  of  the  convent  of  Gernrode. 

The  emperor  pursued  his  ancient  policy  in  his  treatment 
of  this  new  conquest.  The  Lausitz  was  converted  into  a  new 
frontier,  Eastern  Saxony,  and  placed  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  Hermann  Billung.  The  bishoprics  of  Merseburg  and  Zeiz 
were  also  founded,  and,  in  common  with  all  the  other  bishop- 
rics, rendered  dependent  on  the  great  archbishopric  of  Magde- 
burg, a  city  greatly  beautified  by  the  emperor,  with  whom  it 
was  a  favorite  residence.  Bishop  Bucco  (Burkhard)  of  Hal- 
berstadt,  imagining  himself  injured  by  the  erection  of  this 
new  archbishopric,  A.D.  968,  rebelled;  he  was  taken  prisoner; 
but  seizing  the  opportunity  of  pronouncing  a  sentence  of  ex- 
communication against  the  emperor,  who  chanced  to  pass  his 
prison  window,  the  latter  ordered  him  to  be  set  at  liberty. 

Otto  preserved  amicable  relations  with  Bohemia,  where, 
A.D.  936,  St.  "Wenzel  was  assassinated  by  his  pagan  brother, 
Boleslaw  I.,  at  a  baptismal  festival,  to  which  he  had  been 
insidiously  invited.  Boleslaw  declared  war  against  Ger- 
many, and  began  to  build  fortified  cities,  for  instance,  Baut- 


THE  SAXON  EMPERORS  379 

zen.1  He  was  defeated,  and  compelled  to  embrace  Chris- 
tianity, by  Hermann  Billung. a  Poland,  at  that  time  oppressed 
by  the  Danes  and  by  Wichmann,  also  entered  into  alliance 
with  Germany.  Miseko,  king  of  Poland,  wedded  Dobrowa, 
A.D.  966,  the  daughter  of  Boleslaw  of  Bohemia,  who  intro- 
duced Christianity  among  the  Poles.  Wichmann  joined  Seli- 
bur,  the  pagan  prince  of  the  Obotrites,  who  was  defeated, 
and  Rethel,  a  great  Slavian  sanctuary,  demolished,  with  all 
the  heathen  deities  contained  in  it,  by  Hermann  Billung. 
Wichmann  was  also  defeated  by  the  Poles,  into  whose  hands 
he  fell  during  his  flight,  completely  worn  out  with  fatigue 
and  hunger;  he  expired  amid  then*  insults,  after  slaying 
several  of  his  pursuers.  His  death  confirmed  the  alliance 
between  Poland  and  Germany,  and  Miseko  founded  the 
bishopric  of  Posen,  which  was  subordinate  to  the  arch- 
bishopric of  Magdeburg. 

Otto  revisited  Italy,  A.D.  966,  where  Adalbert,  the  son  of 
Berengar,  had  raised  an  insurrection  in  Lombardy;  he  was 
defeated  on  the  Po  by  Burkhard  of  Swabia.  Pope  Leo  VIII. 
was  dead;  the  new  pope,  John  XIII.,  the  emperor's  creature, 
who  had  been  expelled  from  Rome  by  an  adverse  party,  had 
been  reinstated  by  Pandolf,  the  valiant  prince  of  Benevento, 
the  last  Lombard  who  preserved  his  ancestral  bravery  and 
fidelity  amid  the  vices  of  Italy.  Otto's  first  act,  on  his  ar- 
rival in  Rome,  was  the  infliction  of  a  severe  chastisement  on 
the  refractory  Romans;  thirteen  of  the  most  distinguished 
citizens  were  hanged.  A  fresh  and  closer  treaty  was  con- 
cluded between  the  emperor  and  the  pope,  to  whose  domin- 
ions the  territory  of  Ravenna,  which  had  been  severed  from 
them,  was  restored,  in  return  for  which  he  solemnly  placed 
the  imperial  diadem  on  the  head  of  Otto  II.,  an  incident  of 
rare  occurrence  during  the  lifetime  and  in  the  presence  of 
the  father.  All  opposition  to  the  irresistible  power  of  the 

1  The  Bohemian   nobles   showing  an   unwillingness   to  assist  in  building, 
Boleslaw  struck  off  the  head  of  the  first  who  ventured  to  refuse. 

2  According  to  Hageck,  he  fell  at  the  feet  of  the  emperor  and  begged  for 
mercy.     The  punishment  awarded  to  him  was  to  hold  the  field-kettle,  whea 
they  encamped,  over  the  fire,  and  to  bear  it  in  his  escutcheon. 


380  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

emperor  had  now  ceased — the  whole  of  Upper  and  Central 
Italy  lay  in  silent  submission  at  his  feet.  His  first  step  was 
the  imposition  of  a  new  form  of  government  upon  Lombardy. 
He  replaced  the  great  dukes,  with  the  exception  of  his  ally 
Pandolf,  by  numerous  petty  Markgrafs,  the  majority  of 
whom  were  Germans  by  birth.  He  also  settled  a  consider- 
able number  of  Germans  in  the  different  cities,  and  thus  cre- 
ated a  party '  favorable  to  the  imperial  cause  that  counter- 
poised the  rebellious  spirit  of  the  Lombards  and  Romans. 
Pandolf  of  Benevento,  surnamed  Ironhead,  and  the  petty 
duke,  Gisulf  of  Salerno,  whose  imbecility  rendered  him  ever 
inconstant  to  his  allies,  defended  the  frontiers  of  Upper  and 
Central  Italy,  against  the  Greeks,  who  still  retained  possession 
of  Lower  Italy,  and  the  Saracens,  who  had  already  settled  in 
Sicily.  Otto  and  his  empress,  Adelheid,  visited  Pandolf,  A.D. 
968,  who  entertained  them  with  great  magnificence.  During 
his  residence  at  Benevento,  Otto  undertook  the  conquest  of 
Lower  Italy.  Bari,  the  strongly-fortified  Grecian  metropolis, 
offering  a  valiant  and  successful  resistance,  he  had  recourse 
to  his  favorite  policy,  and  dispatched  his  confidant,  Luit- 
prand,  the  celebrated  historian,  to  the  court  of  Nicephorus, 
the  Grecian  emperor,  in  order  to  demand  the  hand  of  the 
beautiful  princess,  Theuphano,  daughter  to  Romanus  the  late 
emperor,  for  his  son  Otto  II.,  probably  in  the  hope  of  receiv- 
ing Italy  as  her  dowry.  His  suit  being  contemptuously  re- 
fused, Otto  undertook  a  second  campaign,  during  the  follow- 
ing year,  and  chose  with  great  judgment  his  line  of  march 
along  the  Alps  that  separate  Lower  Italy  into  two  parts,  and 
thus  command  Apulia  to  the  east  and  Calabria  to  the  west. 
Having  thus  opened  a  path,  he  returned  the  same  way,  leav- 
ing the  conquest  of  the  low  country  to  Pandolf,  who  having 
the  misfortune  to  be  taken  prisoner  before  Bovino,  and  to  be 
sent  to  Constantinople,  the  Greeks,  under  the  patrician  En- 
genius,  crossed  the  frontier,  laid  waste  the  country  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Capua  and  Benevento,  and  treated  the  in- 

1  In  Florence,  known  as  the  Schiatte,  from  the  old  German  word  Schlacht, 
race,  family. 


THE   SAXON  EMPERORS  381 

habitants  with  great  cruelty.  Otto,  who  was  at  that  junc- 
ture in  Upper  Italy,  sent  the  Grafs  Gunther  and  Siegfried  to 
oppose  them ;  a  splendid  victory  was  gained,  and  the  victors, 
animated  by  a  spirit  of  revenge,  deprived  the  Greek  prison- 
ers of  their  right  hands,  noses,  and  ears.  In  970,  the  Sicilian 
Saracens  invaded  the  country,  but  were  defeated  at  Chiara- 
monte  by  Graf  Gunther.  At  this  time,  the  emperor  Jo- 
hannes, who,  after  the  assassination  of  Nicephorus,  had  as- 
cended the  throne  of  Greece,  restored  Pandolf  Ironhead  to 
liberty,  concluded  peace  with  Otto,  and  consented  to  the  alli- 
ance of  Otto  II.  with  the  beautiful  Theuphano,  who  was 
escorted  from  Constantinople  by  the  archbishop  Gero  of  Co- 
logne, Bruno's  successor,  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  body  of 
retainers.  She  was  received  in  the  palace  of  Pandolf  at 
Benevento  by  the  emperor  and  the  youthful  bridegroom. 
Her  extraordinary  beauty  attracted  universal  admiration.1 
The  marriage  ceremony  was  celebrated  with  great  magnifi- 
cence at  Rome,  A.D.  972.  This  princess  created  an  impor- 
tant change  in  the  manners  of  Germany  by  the  introduction 
of  Grecian  customs,  which  gradually  spreading  downward 
from  the  court,  where  her  influence  was  first  felt,  affected 
the  general  habits  of  the  people  by  the  alterations  introduced 
in  the  monastic  academies.  The  German  court  adopted  much 
of  the  pomp  and  etiquette  of  that  of  Greece.  The  number 
of  retainers  increased  with  increasing  luxury,  and  the  plain 
manners  of  the  true-hearted  German  were  exchanged  for 
the  finesse  and  adulation  of  the  courtier.  The  emperor  also 
adopted  the  Grecian  title  of  Sacred  Majesty  (Sacra  Majes- 
tas).  Lower  Italy  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Greeks. 

The  emperor  returned  to  Germany,  A.D.  972,  and  besides 
his  lovely  daughter-in-law,  brought  with  him  a  vast  quantity 
of  relics,  with  which  he  adorned  the  churches,  most  par- 
ticularly that  at  Magdeburg,  for  which  he  had  a  peculiar 


1  The  trappings  of  the  horse  on  which  she  rode  were  ornamented  with 
feathers  and  gold,  her  Grecian  dress  was  resplendent  with  jewels  and  pearls, 
and  her  hair  was  confined  in  a  golden  net.  Yet  all  this  splendor  was  outshone 
by  the  beauty  of  her  features  and  the  brilliancy  of  her  eyes. 


382  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

predilection,  and  which  he  intended  to  honor  with  his  own 
remains.  He  held  a  great  court  at  Quedlinburg,  where  he 
received  the  homage  of  the  different  nations  over  whom  he 
ruled,  and,  after  beholding  in  peace  the  fruits  of  his  long  and 
busy  reign,  expired,  A.D.  973,  at  Menleben.  He  was  buried, 
according  to  his  desire,  at  Magdeburg.  He  left  the  affairs  of 
the  empire,  whose  frontiers  he  had  considerably  extended,  in 
a  most  prosperous  condition.  Christianity  was  zealously  dis- 
seminated amid  the  Scandinavians  to  the  north  by  the  arch- 
bishopric of  Hamburg,  and  amid  the  Slavi  to  the  east  by 
that  of  Magdeburg.  Bohemia  was  transformed  into  a  Ger- 
man dukedom.  Poland  and  Denmark  owed  allegiance  to 
the  empire.  The  sovereignty  of  Lower  Italy  was  in  rever- 
sion. In  the  interior  of  the  state,  the  power  of  the  sovereign 
was  firmly  based.  The  government  of  the  most  important 
provinces,  the  dukedoms  and  Margraviates,  was  intrusted  to 
the  trustiest  adherents  of  the  reigning  house ;  and  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  Pfalzgrafs,  who  managed  the  imperial  allods, 
royal  dues  and  revenues,  in  every  part  of  the  empire,  the 
dukes  could,  in  case  of  necessity,  be  watched  and  kept  in 
awe.  The  office  of  Pfalzgraf  dates  from  an  earlier  period, 
it  merely  received  additional  importance  during  this  reign. 
The  cities  had  also  increased  in  number  and  wealth.  The 
discovery  of  the  rich  silver  mines  of  the  Harz  greatly  pro- 
moted commerce.  A  nobleman,  when  riding  through  the 
forest,  perceived  a  piece  of  silver  ore  that  had  been  uncov- 
ered by  his  horse's  hoof:  the  spot  was  investigated,  and,  A.D. 
938,  the  first  mine  was  opened  in  the  interior  of  Germany. 

CXXXVI.    Otto  the  Second  and  Otto  the  Third 

OTTO  II.  was  short  of  stature,  but  strong  and  muscular, 
and  of  an  extremely  ruddy  complexion;  his  temperament  was 
fiery,  but  modified  by  the  refined  and  learned  education  he 
had  received,  and  for  which  he  was  indebted  to  the  care  of 
his  mother,  Adelheid;  his  wife,  Theuphano,  also  sympa- 
thized in  his  love  of  learning.  Still,  the  Italian  blood  that 


THE  SAXON  EMPERORS  383 

flowed  in  his  veins  estranged  him  too  much  from  Germany, 
and  excited  in  him  so  strong  an  inclination  for  the  south 
that  it  became  as  impossible  for  his  mind  to  be  completely 
absorbed  by  care  for  the  empire,  as  it  was  for  his  rough, 
but  honest  German  subjects  to  adopt  the  pomp  and  refine- 
ment of  his  court. 

Swabia,  on  the  death  of  the  pious  Hedwig,  was  inherited 
by  Otto,  the  son  of  Ludolf,  between  whom  and  Henry  the 
Wrangler,  of  Bavaria,  the  ancient  feud  that  had  arisen  on 
account  of  the  extent  of  their  frontiers  between  their  fathers 
was  still  carried  on.  The  emperor  decided  the  question  in 
Otto's  favor,  and  the  quarrelsome  Henry  instantly  attempted 
to  rouse  the  ancient  national  hatred  of  the  Bavarians,  and  to 
stir  them  up  to  open  revolt.  He  also  entered  into  alliance 
with  Boleslaw  of  Bohemia,  but  was  anticipated  in  his  de- 
signs by  Otto,  who  threw  him  into  prison,  bestowed  Bavaria 
on  Otto  of  Swabia,  and  Carinthia  on  a  Graf,  Henry  Minor, 
the  son  of  Berthold,  probably  a  Babenberger ;  this  Graf  sided 
with  Henry  of  Bavaria,  revolted,  and  was  deposed,  A.D.  974. 
Carinthia  was,  consequently,  also  bestowed  upon  Otto.  In 
the  following  year,  Harald,  king  of  Denmark,  suddenly  in- 
vaded Saxony,  whence  he  was  successfully  repulsed.  Shortly 
after  this  event,  Henry  escaped  from  prison,  again  raised  the 
standard  of  rebellion,  and  was  joined  by  the  Bohemians,  *  but 
again  suffered  defeat,  and  was  retaken  prisoner,  A.D.  977. 

In  978,  war  again  broke  out  in  the  west,  where  Charles, 
the  brother  of  Lothar,  king  of  France,  attempted  to  gain 
possession  of  Lothringia,  but  was  repulsed  by  Otto,  who 
advanced  as  far  as  Paris,  and  burned  the  suburbs.  The  city, 
nevertheless,  withstood  his  attack ;a  and  on  his  return  home- 
ward, being  surprised  by  the  treacherous  Count  of  Henne- 
gau,  he  was  compelled  to  come  to  terms  with  his  opponents ; 

1  A  number  of  Bavarians,  who  were  bathing  not  far  from  Pilsen,  were  sud- 
denly attacked,  when  naked  and  defenseless,  and  cut  to  pieces  by  the  Bohemians. 

'2  Otto  had  vowed  that  he  would  cause  the  Parisians  to  hear  a  Te  Deum  such, 
as  never  had  been  heard  before,  and  he,  accordingly,  assembled  all  the  clergy  of 
the  vicinity  upon  Mont  Martre,  where  he  compelled  them  to  aing.  He  is  said 
to  have  struck  his  lance  into  the  city  gate. 


384  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

Charles  was  permitted  to  hold  Lower  Lothringia  in  fee  of 
the  empire,  and  Upper  Lothringia  was  granted  to  Frederick, 
Count  of  Bar. 

Otto,  whose  natural  inclinations  led  him  to  Italy,  was 
speedily  called  there  by  the  affairs  of  that  country.  Cre- 
scentius  had  usurped  the  government  in  Rome,  and  at- 
tempted to  revive  the  memory  of  ancient  times  by  causing 
himself  to  be  created  consul.  The  pope,  Benedict  VII.,  was 
assassinated  by  his  orders,  and  replaced  by  a  creature  of  his 
own,  Bonifacius  VII.,  in  opposition  to  whom  the  Tuscan 
imperialists  raised  Benedict  VIII.  to  the  papal  chair.  Otto's 
presence  in  Rome,  A.D.  980,  quickly  restored  order.  Crescen- 
tius  was  pardoned.  Otto  was  visited  during  his  stay  in  Rome 
by  Hugh  Capet,  Lothar's  secret  competitor  for  the  throne  of 
France,  whose  claim  was  countenanced  by  the  emperor,  on 
account  of  the  ingratitude  displayed  by  the  French  monarch 
for  the  services  formerly  rendered  to  his  ancestors  by  the 
imperial  house  of  Saxony. 

Lower  Italy  next  engaged  the  attention  of  the  emperor, 
who  attempted  to  take  forcible  possession  of  his  wife's  por- 
tion. The  Greeks,  until  now  unceasingly  at  war  with  the 
Arabs,  instantly  united  with  them  against  their  common 
enemy.  Naples  and  Tarentum  were  taken  by  Otto,  and  the 
allies  were  defeated  near  Cotrona,  A.D.  981;  Abn  al  Casern, 
the  terror  of  Lower  Italy,  and  numbers  of  the  Arabs,  were 
left  on  the  field  of  battle.  The  following  campaign  proved 
disastrous  to  the  emperor,  who,  while  engaged  in  a  conflict 
with  the  Greeks  on  the  seashore  near  Basantello,  not  far 
from  Tarentum,  was  suddenly  attacked  hi  the  rear  by  the 
Arabs,  and  so  completely  routed  that  he  was  compelled  to 
fly  for  his  life,  and  owed  his  escape  entirely  to  the  rapidity 
of  his  horse.  When  wandering  along  the  shore  in  moment- 
ary expectation  of  being  captured  by  the  enemy,  he  caught 
sight  of  a  Grecian  vessel,  toward  which  he  swam  on  horse- 
back, in  the  hope  of  not  being  recognized  by  those  on  board. 
He  was  taken  up.  A  slave  recognized  him,  but  instead  of 
betraying  him,  passed  him  off  as  one  of  the  emperor's  cham- 


THE   SAXON  EMPERORS  385 

berlains.  The  Greeks  made  for  Rossano  with  the  intention 
of  taking  on  board  the  treasures  of  the  pretended  chamber- 
lain, who,  the  instant  the  vessel  approached  the  shore,  sud- 
denly leaped  into  the  sea  and  escaped.1  Lower  Italy  re- 
mained in  the  hands  of  the  Greeks,  and  was  governed  by  an 
exarch.  The  Arabians  also  retained  possession  of  Sicily. 
Otto,  duke  of  Swabia  and  Bavaria,  dying  during  the  cam- 
paign in  Italy,2  the  emperor  bestowed  the  ducal  crown  of 
Swabia  on  Conrad,  the  son  of  Udo,  who  was  the  brother  of 
Hermann  of  Swabia,  and  to  whom  Otto  I.  had  given  the 
Rhinegau  and  the  Wetterau  to  hold  in  fee.  Bavaria  was 
restored  to  Henry  Minor,  and  Carinthia  was  given  to  Otto 
of  Franconia,  the  son  of  Conrad  the  Red,  who  had  fallen 
valiantly  fighting  against  the  Hungarians.  Henry  the 
Wrangler  remained  a  prisoner. 

Hermann  Billung  had  been  succeeded  in  Saxony  by  his 
son,  Bernhard.  The  Slavian  frontiers  were,  however,  di- 
vided into  several  petty  Margraviates,  that  of  Zeiz  or  North- 
ern Thuringia  being  governed  by  Gunther,  that  of  Northern 
Saxony  or  Brandenburg  by  Dietrich,  that  of  the  Lausitz  by 

1  This  adventure  has  been  variously  related.  According  to  one  writer,  he 
slew  forty  Greek  boatmen,  with  the  assistance  of  a  soldier  named  Probus,  whom 
he  met  with  on  the  shore :  another  version  records  that  he  enticed  the  Greeks, 
to  whom  he  was  personally  known,  to  the  shore,  by  requesting  them  to  take  on 
board  their  vessel  his  wife  and  treasures,  which  had  been  placed  for  safety  in 
Rossano ;  that  he  sent  young  men  disguised  as  his  wife's  female  attendants  on 
board  the  vessel,  which  they  speedily  seized.  Every  account,  however,  agrees 
that  Theuphano  jeeringly  inquired  of  the  emperor  whether  her  countrymen  had 
not  put  him  into  deadly  fear ;  for  which  the  Germans  never  forgave  her.  The 
fable-loving  historian,  Vincentius,  makes  a  naval  engagement,  in  983,  take  place 
between  the  emperor  and  the  Greeks,  in  which  they  fought  with  such  animosity 
that  the  whole  sea  was  stained  with  blood,  and  the  emperor  was  victorious,  but 
received  a  mortal  wound.  According  to  other  accounts,  he  died  at  Rome,  not 
of  his  wound,  but  of  grief.  He  is  also  said  to  have  been  whipped  to  death  on 
Mount  Garganus  by  the  angels,  among  whom  he  had  imprudently  ventured  while 
they  were  there  holding  a  conclave.  It  is  impossible  to  unravel  the  meaning  of 
this  strange  fable.  These  examples  will,  however,  suffice  to  give  an  idea  of  the 
inaccuracy  of  the  chronicles  of  these  times. 

4  It  is  said  that,  during  this  campaign,  one  of  the  emperor's  daughters  eloped 
to  Alba  hi  Montserrat  with  her  seneschal,  Graf  Alram  of  Saxony,  who  was  after- 
ward pardoned  and  created  the  first  Markgraf  of  Montserrat.  The  celebrated 
golden  altar,  an  invaluable  work  of  art,  that,  in  1698,  was  stolen  and  melted  by 
the  robber  Nicolas  List,  was,  during  this  campaign,  taken  from  the  Arabs  and 
sent  to  Liineburg. 

GERMANY.    VOL.  I. — 17 


386  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

Ditmar,  and  that  of  Misnia  by  Riddag.  Violence  and  pil- 
lage had  become  so  frequent  as  to  be  considered  legitimate 
in  this  country.  A  certain  Graf  Dedo  assembled  a  force  in 
Bohemia,  surprised  and  plundered  Zeiz,  and  carried  off  Oda, 
the  daughter  of  Dietrich  of  Brandenburg,  the  affianced  bride 
of  Miseko,  king  of  Poland.  Dietrich  emulated  Gero  in  the 
cruelty  with  which  he  treated  the  conquered  Slavi. 

Mistevoi,  the  valiant  prince  of  the  Obotrites,  favored  the 
Christian  religion,  followed  the  banner  of  Otto  II.,  and 
served  under  liim  in  Italy ;  on  his  return  to  his  native  coun- 
try, he  sued  for  the  hand  of  Mechtildis,  the  sister  of  Bern- 
hard  of  Saxony,  and  on  being  insulted  by  the  jealous  Diet- 
rich, who  called  him  a  dog  and  unworthy  of  a  Christian  or 
of  a  German  bride,  replied,  "If  we  Slavi  be  dogs,  we  will 
prove  to  you  that  we  can  bite."  The  pagan  Slavi,  who  were 
ever  ripe  for  revolt,  obeyed  his  call  the  more  readily,  on  ac- 
count of  the  death  of  Ditmar,  who,  with  many  others  of  their 
tyrannical  rulers,  had  fallen  in  the  Italian  war.  An  oath  of 
eternal  enmity  against  the  Germans  and  the  priests  was 
taken  before  their  idol,  Radegast,  and  suddenly  rising  in 
open  rebellion,  they  assassinated  all  who  fell  into  their 
hands,  A.D.  983,  razed  all  the  churches  to  the  ground,  and 
completely  destroyed  the  cities  of  Hamburg  and  Oldenburg, 
besides  those  of  Brandenburg  and  Havelburg.  The  lands  of 
Dietrich  became  one  scene  of  desolation.  Sixty  priests  were 
flayed  alive.  The  rebels  were,  nevertheless,  completely 
beaten  by  Dietrich  and  Riddag  in  a  pitched  battle  near 
Tangermiinde.  The  emperor,  however,  more  just  than  his 
father  had  been,  deprived  the  cruel  Dietrich  of  his  govern- 
ment, and  bestowed  it  on  Hodo.  Riddag  and  his  cousin,  the 
above-mentioned  Graf  Dedo,  remained  in  Meissen,  whence 
Riddag  was  afterward  expelled  by  the  Bohemians.  It  was 
regained  by  his  cousin  and  successor,  the  brave  Eckhart, 
whose  exploits  were  equaled  by  those  of  Bernhard  Billung, 
who  had  returned  from  Italy  in  order  to  oppose  the  Obotrites 
on  the  western  frontier.  The  obstinacy  with  which  the 
Slavi,  notwithstanding  their  terrible  defeats,  still  held  out, 


THE  SAXON  EMPERORS  38T 

is  proved  by  the  fact  of  Brandenburg  having  been  first  re- 
taken in  994. 

The  peaceable  conversion  of  the  Bohemians  and  Poles 
chiefly  contributed  to  the  gradual  but  complete  subjection 
of  the  Slavi  on  the  frontiers.  The  independence  of  Bohemia 
and  Poland  was  only  possible  so  long  as  the  powerful  Slavian 
pagan  states  existed  to  their  rear.  This  support  was  now 
lost.  Poland  was  already  Christianized,  and  the  bishop  of 
Prague,  Adalbert,  was  a  celebrated  Bohemian  saint.  It  was 
also  about  this  period  that  Christianity  took  firm  footing  in 
Denmark,  although  not  without  fierce  struggles.  Harald 
Blaatand,  whom  Otto  I.  had  compelled  to  receive  baptism, 
was,  when  past  his  eightieth  year,  expelled  by  his  son,  Swein 
Gabelbart,  who  favored  paganism.  He  died  of  his  wounds, 
A.D.  986. '  Swein  conquered  the  mere  of  Schleswig,  and 
caused  the  Graf  Siegfried  of  Oldenburg,  and  several  other 
knights  whom  he  had  taken  prisoners,  to  be  deprived  of  their 
hands  and  feet.  Saxony  and  Poland,  aided  by  the  Christians 
of  Scandinavia,  under  the  guidance  of  St.  Poppo,  a  zealous 
preacher,  rose  in  arms  against  him.  Erich,  king  of  Sweden, 
one  of  Poppo's  disciples,  greatly  aided  them,  in  the  hope  of 
gaining  possession  of  Denmark  by  means  of  the  Christian 
party :  this  project  was  realized,9  and  Poppo  baptized  count- 
less numbers  of  the  Danes  in  the  Hilligbek  (heiligen  Bach\ 
sacred  fount,8  between  Schleswig  and  Flensburg.  After  the 

1  Compare  Dahlman's  History  of  Denmark.     The  legendary  account  relates 
that  Swein  of  Palnatoke  or  Toko,  the  celebrated  chief  of  the  Jomsburgian  pirates, 
was  the  son  of  Harald,  by  whom  he  was  not  acknowledged,  his  mother  having 
been  a  common  slave.     Toko,  imagining  himself  injured  by  this  conduct,  became 
the  monarch's  mortal  enemy.     Harald  took  him  prisoner,  and  compelled  him  to 
show  his  skill,  for  which  he  was  celebrated,  as  a  marksman,  by  shooting  at  an 
apple  placed  on  the  head  of  his  son.     "Why  didat  thou  conceal  another  arrow 
about  thee?"  demanded  the  king.     "In  order  to  have  killed  thee, "  replied  Toko, 
"had  I  struck  my  child."     The  king  then  placed  him  in  chains  in  his  boat,  but, 
during  a  storm  that  arose  on  the  lake,  unbound  him,  hi  order  to  be  saved  by  his 
well-known  skill  as  an  experienced  boatman.     Toko  steered  against  a  rock,  sprang 
on  shore,  and  pushed  the  boat  back  into  the  lake.     He  afterward  waylaid  the 
king  and  shot  him. — Saxo  Grammaticus. 

2  Swein  is  said  to  have  been  taken  prisoner  three  times.     He  twice  ransomed 
himself  by  paying  his  weight  in  gold,  and  double  that  weight  in  silver.     On  the 
third  occasion,  he  obtained  his  liberty  by  the  cession  of  the  Danish  crown. 

3  Erich  was  merely  primsignet,  or  provisionally  signed  with  the  cross,  as  was 


388  THE   HISTORY    OF   GERMANY 

death  of  Erich,  his  son,  Olaf  Schooskonig,  who  completed 
the  peaceable  conversion  of  Sweden,  deemed  it  more  politic 
to  treat  amicably  with  Swein,  and  not  only  bestowed  on  him 
the  hand  of  his  mother,  Sigrida,  but  also  restored  him  to  the 
Danish  throne,  and  united  with  him  against  the  great  north- 
ern hero,  Olaf  Tryggvason  of  Norway,  whose  successes,  A.D. 
995,  over  Hakon  Jarl  and  the  pagan  party  had  roused  the 
jealousy  of  his  neighbors.  His  bitterest  enemies  were  the 
pirates  of  Jomsburg  and  their  other  northern  brethren,  the 
Ascomanni  (so  named  from  their  great  boats,  or  Aschen), 
with  whom  the  kings  of  Denmark  and  Sweden  entered  into 
alliance,  and  defeated  Olaf  Tryggvason  in  a  naval  engage- 
ment. ' 

Great  changes  took  place  also,  at  this  period,  in  France. 
Lothar  died,  A.D.  986,  and,  in  the  following  year,  his  only 
son,  Louis  V.  Charles  of  Lothringia,  Lothar 's  brother,  as- 
pired to  the  throne,  but  was  excluded  by  the  Capetian  party. 
The  disesteem  in  which  he  was  held  on  account  of  his  licen- 
tious habits,  and  the  refusal  of  assistance  from  Germany, 
where  the  emperor,  dissatisfied  with  the  conduct  of  Lothar, 
no  longer  favored  the  Carlovingians,  rendered  him  defense- 
less; he  fell  into  the  hands  of  his  rival,  Hugh  Capet,  and 
died  in  prison,  A.D.  993.  His  son,  Otto,  the  last  of  the  Car- 
lovingian  race,  died,  neglected  and  despised,  A.D.  1004. 

The  death  of  Otto  II.,  which  was  occasioned  by  the  hard- 
ships he  had  undergone  at  Basantello,  took  place  in  Italy, 
A.D.  983.  His  son,  Otto  III.,  a  child  three  years  of  age, 
was  named  as  his  successor,  under  the  joint  guardianship 
of  Theuphano  and  Adelheid,  who  gave  him  such  a  learned 
education  that  he  received  the  appellation  of  the  "  Wunder- 
kind,"  on  account  of  the  precocity  of  his  intellect. 


then  the  custom  before  initiating  the  converts  in  the  tenets  of  the  church.  Erich 
believed  that  the  God  of  the  Christiana  resembled  all  other  gods,  and  was  merely 
somewhat  stronger  than  those  of  the  pagans,  whom  it  was,  nevertheless,  also 
necessary  to  worship.  The  zealous  Poppo,  resolving  to  convert  the  king  by  the 
performance  of  a  miracle,  passed  unharmed,  in  a  waxen  shirt,  through  a  fiery 
furnace,  upon  which  the  terrified  people  flocked  in  multitudes  to  the  font. 
1  See  Chapter  CXXII. 


THE   SAXON  EMPERORS  389 

Henry  the  "Wrangler,  who  aspired  to  the  throne,  and 
seized  the  person  of  the  young  monarch,  had  already,  by  his 
conduct,  estranged  from  himself  his  countrymen  the  Saxons; 
the  memory  of  the  cruelties  practiced  by  his  father  also  ren- 
dered him  unpopular  in  Bavaria,  and  he  was  speedily  reduced 
to  submission  by  the  Franconian  party,  at  whose  head  stood 
Willigis,  the  learned  archbishop  of  Mayence.  He  was  the 
son  of  a  wheelwright,  and  adopted  a  wheel  for  the  arms  of 
the  archbishopric,  with  these  words,  "Willigis,  "Willigis,  re- 
member thy  origin."  Next  in  rank  to  this  spiritual  head  of 
the  empire  stood  Conrad,  duke  of  Franconia  and  Swabia, 
and  Henry,  duke  of  Bavaria.  Henry  the  Wrangler  was 
compelled  to  deliver  up  the  emperor,  and  to  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  him,  in  consideration  of  which  he  was  restored 
to  the  dukedom  of  Bavaria,  on  the  death  of  Henry  Minor, 
which  was  shortly  afterward  followed  by  that  of  Conrad, 
who  was  succeeded  in  Franconia  by  his  son  Conrad,  and  in 
Swabia  by  his  nephew  Hermann.  The  mere  of  Austria  was 
granted  to  Leopold  I. ,  grandson  to  Adalbert  of  Babenberg, 
whom  Hatto  had  betrayed.  This  brave  Markgraf  displayed 
so  much  activity  that  in  983  he  had  driven  the  Hungarians 
from  the  Enns,  taken  their  royal  castle  of  Molk,  and  com- 
pelled them  to  keep  within  the  limits  of  modern  Hungary. 
Their  king,  Geisa,  followed  the  example  of  the  sovereigns  of 
Bohemia  and  Poland,  and  received  baptism  from  the  hands 
of  Pilgerin,  bishop  of  Passau;  he  also  sought  to  preserve 
peaceful  relations  with  the  Germanic  empire;  Christianity, 
nevertheless,  first  became  the  national  religion  during  the 
reign  of  his  son,  St.  Stephen,  who  ascended  the  throne  A.D. 
997,  and  died  A.D.  1038.  This  monarch  married  Gisela,  the 
daughter  of  Henry  the  "Wrangler,  a  union  that  strengthened 
his  alliance  with  Germany. 

Leopold  planted  numerous  German  colonists  in  Lower 
Austria,  the  country  regained  by  him  from  the  Hungarians, 
which  was  visited  by  fresh  missionaries,  who  there  left  im- 
perishable records  of  their  zeal.  In  the  mountains,  St.  "Wolf- 
gang performed  his  miracles  on  the  shores  of  the  lake  that 


390  THE    HISTORY    OF   GERMANY 

still  bears  his  name ;  and  a  monastery,  in  which  the  relics  of 
St.  Colomannus,  a  Scotch  missionary,  who  was  murdered  by 
the  pagans,  were  preserved,  was  raised  over  the  ruins  of  the 
royal  castle  of  Molk. 

The  scepter  of  Germany  was  no  sooner  again  held  by  a 
child  than  the  clergy  and  the  great  vassals  of  the  empire 
sought  to  regain  the  power  of  which  they  had  been  deprived 
during  the  preceding  reigns.  The  youthful  emperor,  guided 
by  his  mother  and  grandmother,  who  greatly  favored  the 
clergy,  bestowed  upon  them  rich  lands  and  benefices.  Peace 
was,  certainly,  maintained  throughout  the  empire,  the  dukes 
contenting  themselves  with  confirming  their  power  in  the 
interior  of  the  state,  unopposed  by  the  emperor.  War  was, 
however,  still  carried  on  on  the  Slavian  frontier,  where  Otto 
was  occasionally  allowed  to  appear  in  person,  in  order  to 
gain  his  first  spurs.  Graf  Arnold  of  Holland,  at  that  period, 
A.D.  993,  also  attempted  the  subjugation  of  the  Western 
Frisii,  by  whom  he  was  defeated  and  slain. 

Theuphano  and  Adelheid,  whose  thoughts  were  ever  di- 
rected toward  Italy,1  their  native  land,  had  not  been  idle  in 
their  endeavors  to  rouse  the  ambition  of  the  youthful  Otto, 
who,  on  attaining  his  majority,  aspired  to  the  sovereignty  of 
that  country,  where,  after  the  death  of  Otto  II.,  the  Italian 
party  again  rose  in  opposition  to  that  of  the  emperor.  Cre- 
scentius,  who  had  usurped  unlimited  power  in  Rome,  caused 
the  pope,  John  XFV.,  to  be  assassinated,  and  expelled  his 
successor,  John  XV.,  who  convoked  an  extraordinary  coun- 
cil at  Rheims,  A  D.  995.  Hugh  Capet,  the  new  French  mon- 
arch, who  planned  the  foundation  of  a  Gallican  church,  in- 
dependent of  that  of  Rome,  had  deposed  Arnulf,  archbishop 
of  Rheims,  a  nephew  of  Charles  of  Lothringia,  for  his  zeal- 
ous exertions  in  favor  of  his  unfortunate  Carlovingian  rela- 
tives. The  German  bishops  and  the  pope,  enraged  at  this 


1  Adelheid  fixed  her  residence  in  her  widowhood  at  Pavia,  where  she  was 
visited  by  Theuphano  when  returning  from  a  pilgrimage  to  the  holy  sepulcher 
at  Jerusalem.  They  separated  after  a  bitter  quarrel,  and  Theuphano  died  shortly 
afterward  at  Nimwegen, 


THE   SAXON   EMPERORS  391 

conduct,  unanimously  condemned  him  at  the  council  at 
Rheims,  and  he  was  compelled  to  yield.  The  pope  expired 
during  the  following  year,  and  the  emperor  marched  into 
Italy  for  the  purpose  of  regulating  the  affairs  of  the  church. 
Crescentius  was  speedily  overcome  and  pardoned.  Otto, 
fired  by  youthful  enthusiasm,  imagined  that  the  future 
happiness  of  the  world  was  to  be  secured  by  a  closer 
union  of  the  imperial  with  the  papal  power,  and  with 
his  own  hand,  although  himself  scarcely  out  of  his  boy- 
hood, placed  the  tiara  on  the  head  of  Bruno,  the  son  of 
Otto  of  Carinthia,  who  was  then  in  his  four-and-twentieth 
year,  and  who  received  the  name  of  Gregory  V.  Bruno 
was  grandson  to  Conrad  of  Franconia,  the  hero  of  the  Lech, 
who  had  married  Luitgarde,  daughter  to  Otto  I.  St.  Ad- 
albert, who  had  come  from  Prague,  A.D.  996,  in  order  to 
witness  the  ceremony,  was  enraptured  at  the  sight  of  these 
two  noble  youths.  By  his  side  stood  Gerbert,  Otto's  precep- 
tor, one  of  the  most  profound  reasoners  of  the  age,  and  the 
energetic  Bishop  Notker  of  Liege,  both  of  whom  earnestly 
sought  to  re-establish  the  fallen  power  of  the  church,  while 
the  youthful  pope,  strong  in  his  native  purity,  caused  even 
the  Italians,  in  despite  of  their  moral  depravity,  to  foresee 
the  height  to  which  the  church  might  attain  if  governed  by 
German  virtue.  His  first  step  was  to  lay  France  under  an 
interdict  until  the  reinstallment  of  Arnulf  into  his  archbish- 
opric, which  had  been  purposely  delayed  by  Hugh  Capet, 
whose  son  Robert,  his  successor,  evinced  greater  submission 
to  Rome.  St.  Adalbert  visited  Prussia,  in  order  to  preach 
the  gospel  to  the  heathen  inhabitants,  by  whom  he  was  mur- 
dered, A.D.  99?.  His  death  was  a  bad  omen,  for  scarcely 
had  the  emperor  quitted  Rome  than  Crescentius  again  raised 
the  banner  of  insurrection,  inflamed  all  the  dark  and  fiend- 
like  passions  of  the  Roman  populace,  already  indignant  at 
the  assumption  of  the  tiara  by  a  stranger,  and  elected  an- 
other Italian  wretch,  John  XVI.,  pope.  The  emperor  in- 
stantly returned,  and  re-entering  Rome,  where  his  presence 
alone  sufficed  to  calm  the  uproar,  caused  the  pretender  to 


392  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

the  popedom  to  be  deprived  of  sight,  and  to  be  led  through 
the  city  mounted  on  an  ass.  Crescentius,  who  had  vainly 
thrown  himself  into  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo,  was  executed, 
A.D.  998.  The  well-founded  hopes  of  the  German  party 
were,  however,  doomed  to  be  frustrated  by  Italian  wiles, 
and  it  is  only  left  for  us  to  imagine  what  Europe  might 
have  become,  had  these  two  noble-minded  youths  been  in- 
trusted, for  a  longer  period,  with  her  temporal  and  spiritual 
welfare.  Gregory  V.  expired  suddenly,  A.D.  999.  His  death 
was,  with  great  justice,  ascribed  to  poison.  Gerbert  became 
his  successor,  under  the  name  of  Sylvester  II.  His  deep 
science  and  learning  caused  him  to  be  generally  regarded  as 
a  wizard.  The  death  of  Gregory,  the  friend  of  his  youth, 
caused  a  deep  dejection  to  prey  upon  the  mind  of  the  em- 
peror, which  was  still  more  worked  upon  by  the  approach  of 
the  year  1000,  the  period  popularly  fixed  for  the  end  of  the 
world,  and  by  the  exhortations  of  two  Italian  enthusiasts, 
the  saints  Romuald  and  Nilus,  who  gained  great  power  over 
him,  and  who,  being  the  fellow-countrymen  of  Crescentius, 
reproved  him  most  particularly  for  the  severity  with  which 
he  had  treated  that  traitor,  which  they  denounced  as  a  crime, 
and  he  was  at  length  induced  to  do  penance  for  fourteen  days 
in  a  cavern,  sacred  to  the  archangel  Michael,  on  the  Monte 
Gargano,  in  Apulia,  and  to  perform  a  pilgrimage  to  the  bones 
of  St.  Adalbert  at  Gnesen,  in  Poland.  He,  nevertheless, 
reappeared  here  in  his  character  as  emperor,  by  more  strongly 
cementing  the  amicable  relations  that  already  subsisted  be- 
tween Germany  and  Poland.  Besides  consecrating  there  a 
church  to  St.  Adalbert,  and  founding  the  archbishopric  of 
Gnesen,  on  which  the  bishoprics  of  Breslau,  Cracau  and  Col- 
berg  (at  a  later  period,  Kamin)  were  rendered  dependent,  he 
bestowed  the  title  of  king  on  Boleslaw  Chrobry,  the  son  of 
Miseko  and  of  the  Bohemian  Dobrowa,  and  gave  his  niece, 
Rixa,1  to  his  son  Mieslaus,  in  marriage.  He  also,  during  the 

1  She  was  the  mother  of  Casimir,  with  whom  she  afterward  took  refuge  im 
France,  where  she  caused  him  to  be  educated  as  a  monk.  He  was  recalled, 
and  placed  upon  the  throne  in  his  monkish  garb.  The  Poles  shaved  their  heads 
in  order  to  resemble  him,  a  custom  that  afterward  became  a  sign  of  rank. 


THE   SAXON    EMPERORS  393 

same  year,  visited  Aix-la-Chapelle,  where  he  caused  the 
tomb  of  Charlemagne  to  be  opened.  That  monarch  was  dis- 
covered seated  on  his  throne.  On  his  return  to  Rome,  he 
announced  his  intention  of  making  her  the  capital  of  the 
modern,  as  she  had  been  that  of  the  ancient  world,  but  the 
Romans  were  incapable  of  either  comprehending  his  grand 
projects,  or  of  perceiving  the  advantage  that  must  have  ac- 
crued to  them  had  their  city  once  more  become  an  imperial 
residence.  The  senseless  and  brutal  populace  again  rose  in 
open  insurrection.  On  one  occasion,  Otto,  addressing  them 
from  a  tower,  upbraided  them  for  their  folly,  and  induced 
them  to  disperse.  His  death,  which  took  place  in  1002,  was 
ascribed  to  poison, '  but  was  more  probably  caused  by  small- 
pox. In  the  following  year,  Pope  Sylvester  also  expired,  and 
with  him  every  hope  that  had  been  raised  for  the  reformation 
of  the  church,  which  again  fell  under  Italian  influence,  and 
the  weak-minded  successor  to  the  throne  of  Germany  became 
her  slave  instead  of  her  protector. 

CXXXVII.    Henry  the  Second,  the  Holy 

OTTO  dying  childless,  the  succession  to  the  throne  was 
again  disputed.  Henry  of  Bavaria,  the  son  of  Henry  the 
Wrangler,  claimed  it  as  the  nearest  of  kin,  and  was  supported 
by  the  clergy  on  account  of  his  piety,  and  his  munificence 
toward  the  church.  The  next  competitor  was  Hermann  of 
Swabia,  who,  although  of  Franconian  descent,  was  nearly 
allied  to  the  imperial  house.  He  was,  moreover,  the  wealth- 
iest and  most  considerable  of  the  German  dukes,  and  en- 

-  Several  chronicles  relate  that  Stephania,  the  beautiful  widow  of  Crescen- 
tius,  whom  Otto  had  taken  for  hia  mistress,  caused  his  death  by  means  of 
poisoned  gloves.  But  her  name  was  Theodora,  and  she  was,  moreover,  at  that 
time  a  grandmother.  It  is  related  of  this  emperor  that  his  wife,  Mary  of  Ara- 
gon,  was  faithless  to  him,  and  having  vainly  attempted  to  win  the  affections  of 
a  handsome  Italian  count,  falsely  accused  him  to  the  emperor,  who  condemned 
him  to  death.  The  widow  of  the  injured  count  appeared  before  his  throne,  and 
offered  to  prove  the  innocence  of  her  husband  by  undergoing  the  ordeal.  She 
passed  through  it  unharmed,  and  the  emperor,  convinced  of  his  injustice,  sen- 
tenced his  wife  to  be  publicly  burned,  A.D.  996. 


394  THE    HISTORY    OF    GERMANY 

joyed  far  more  popularity  among  the  laity  than  his  rival, 
Henry.  The  third  claimant  was  Eckhart  of  Meissen,  who, 
for  the  first  time,  made  use  of  the  unlimited  power  he  enjoyed 
as  governor  of  the  Slavian  marches,  where  the  population 
was  reduced  to  complete  servitude,  while  the  dukes  or  gov- 
ernors of  the  German  provinces  were  ever  circumscribed  in 
their  authority  by  the  free  spirit  of  the  people. 

Henry's  party  was  considerably  strengthened  by  the  ad- 
herence of  Willigis,  the  pious  archbishop  of  Mayence.  Eck- 
hart, his  most  dangerous  opponent,  lost  his  life  before  he 
could  carry  his  projects  into  execution.  His  indecorous  treat- 
ment of  Sophia  and  Adelheid  (the  sisters  of  Otto  III.,  who 
actively  forwarded  the  interests  of  his  rival,  Henry),  into 
whose  dining  apartment  he  forced  his  way,  and  destroyed 
their  meal,  was  avenged  by  the  Saxon  Grafs  of  Nordheim, 
who  attacked  him  during  the  night  at  Polde,  A.D,  1002,  and 
succeeded  in  depriving  him  of  life  after  a  valiant  defense. 
Henry  thereupon  repaired  to  Aix-la-Chapelle,  where  he  was 
crowned.  Hermann  resigned  his  pretensions  and  submitted 
to  the  new  emperor.  He  died  shortly  afterward,  leaving 
Swabia  to  his  son  Hermann,  who  did  not  long  survive  him. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Ernst,  the  son  of  Leopold  of  Austria, 
and  husband  to  Gisela,  his  sister,  the  daughter  of  Gerberga, 
and  granddaughter  of  Rudolf  III.  of  Burgundy.  Ernst  was 
killed  when  hunting,  and  left  the  dukedom  to  his  son  Ernst, 
whose  mother,  Gisela,  married  Conrad,  Graf  of  Franconia, 
who  afterward  ascended  the  imperial  throne.  His  cousin, 
the  Markgraf  Henry  of  Schweinfurt,  demanded,  immedi- 
ately after  the  coronation  of  the  emperor,  the  dukedom  of 
Bavaria,  which  had  become  vacant  by  Henry's  accession  to 
the  throne,  and  which  was  also  aspired  to  by  Bruno,  the  em- 
peror's brother.  Both  competitors  met  with  a  refusal  from 
Henry,  who  bestowed  Bavaria  upon  his  brother-in-law, 
Henry,  Count  of  Luxemburg,  upon  which  the  two  rivals 
entered  into  a  conspiracy  against  him  with  Boleslaw  II.  of 
Bohemia,  who  had  not  inherited  the  peaceable  disposition  of 
his  father.  They  were  defeated  by  the  emperor  near  Creu- 


THE   SAXON  EMPERORS  395 

sen,  A.D.  1003,  and  pardoned.  Lothringia,  on  the  extinction 
of  the  Carlovingian  race,  fell  to  Gottfried  of  Verdun,  the 
nephew  of  Gisilbrecht,  and  Brabant  to  Lambert  of  Louvain, 
the  husband  of  Gerberga,  the  sister  of  Otto,  the  last  of  the 
Carlovingians. 

Affairs  also  wore  a  different  aspect  in  the  East ;  Boleslaw 
Chrobry  of  Poland,  a  great  conqueror,  reduced  Kiow  in  Rus- 
sia beneath  his  rule.  In  Bohemia,  Boleslaw  had  broken  his 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  empire.  The  ancient  race  of  Crocus 
had  degenerated.  A  rival  race,  that  of  the  Wrssowez,  was 
at  the  head  of  the  democratic  and  pagan  party,  but  could 
merely  offer  a  weak  opposition,  by  dint  of  petty  stratagems, 
to  the  more  powerful  Christian  party.  At  length  the  assas- 
sination of  one  of  the  Wrssowez,  by  the  order  of  Boleslaw, 
occasioned  the  formation  of  a  conspiracy  against  him ;  Boles- 
law  was  enticed  into  Poland,  where  he  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  enraged  Wrssowez,  who  deprived  him  of  sight,  and 
placed  Bohemia,  Moravia  and  Silesia  in  the  hands  of  Boles- 
law  of  Poland.  A  great  reaction  ensued.  Boleslaw,  at  the 
head  of  the  united  Poles  and  Bohemians,  invaded  the  Lausitz 
and  Meissen.  After  several  severe  campaigns,  the  emperor 
at  length  succeeded  in  separating  Bohemia  from  Poland,  and 
in  placing  Othelrich  or  Ulrich,  the  brother  of  the  blind  Boles- 
law,  on  the  throne  of  that  dukedom.  Othelrich  was  faith- 
less and  tyrannical.  In  order  the  more  firmly  to  secure  the 
possession  of  the  crown,  he  deprived  his  second  brother,  Ja- 
romir,  of  sight.  Boleslaw  of  Poland  attempted  to  win  him 
over,  and  sent  his  son,  Miseko,  to  negotiate  with  him. 
Othelrich  delivered  him  up  to  the  emperor,  who  instantly 
restored  him  to  liberty.  The  war,  nevertheless,  was  still 
carried  on.  The  emperor  suffered  a  defeat,  A.D.  1015,  prob- 
ably on  the  Bober,  the  half  of  his  army  that  had  crossed  the 
stream  being  suddenly  attacked  by  the  enemy.  Miseko,  in- 
spirited by  this  success,  attacked  Meissen :  the  castle  was  set 
on  fire,  but  the  conflagration  was  extinguished  by  the  women, 
who  poured  mead  on  the  spreading  flames.  The  emperor 
afterward  undertook  a  fresh  expedition  into  Silesia,  where 


396  THE  HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

he  laid  siege  to  the  city  of  Nimptsch,1  but  without  success. 
Peace  was  finally  concluded  with  Poland  at  Bautzen,  A.D. 
1018.  In  Meissen,  the  house  of  Wettin  was  raised  to  the 
Margravial  dignity,  in  the  person  of  Dedi  L,  the  brave  op- 
ponent of  the  Slavi.  A  war  of  extermination  was  also  waged 
against  the  Obotrites  and  the  Wilzi  by  Bernhard  II.  of  Sax- 
ony, and  Bernhard,  Markgraf  of  Brandenburg,  the  son  of  the 
deposed  Dietrich.  Mistevoi,  prince  of  the  Obotrites,  whose 
sway-extended  over  the  whole  of  the  Slavian  north,  weary  at 
length  of  the  havoc  of  war,  and  anxious  to  secure  peace  for 
his  people,  embraced  Christianity.  He  was,  in  consequence, 
expelled  by  his  subjects.  He  died  at  Bardewik.  In  order 
to  strengthen  himself  against  the  Slavi,  the  emperor  courted 
the  friendship  of  the  Danes,  to  whom  he  gave  permission  to 
found,  for  the  first  time,  an  independent  archbishopric  of 
Lund.  Up  to  this  period,  A.D.  1004,  Denmark  had  been  de- 
pendent on  the  archbishopric  of  Hamburg,  whose  prelate, 
Liemar,  had  excommunicated  King  Erich,  on  account  of  his 
cruelty. 

The  Italians,  unwearied  in  their  struggle  for  independ- 
ence, had,  upon  the  death  of  Otto,  again  raised  a  king  of 
their  own,  Harduin,  Markgraf  of  Ivrea,  to  the  throne  of 
Italy.  The  bishops,  who  favored  the  claims  of  Henry,  from 
the  same  motive  which  caused  them  to  be  upheld  by  their 
brethren  in  Germany,  alone  opposed  him.  Henry  marched 
into  Italy,  where  he  overcame  every  opponent,  and  was 
crowned,  A.D.  1005,  at  Pavia.  This  powerful  city  rebelled 
against  the  foreign  invader,  and  the  citizens  so  closely  be- 
sieged the  imperial  palace,  that  Henry  was  compelled  to 
spring  from  a  window,  and  lamed  himself  for  life.  A  dread- 
ful revenge  was  taken  by  his  German  troops.  The  emperor, 


1  This  city  was  named  Nemezi,  on  account  of  its  having  been  founded  by 
Germans.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  an  ancient  German  sanctuary  prior  to 
the  times  of  the  Slavi. — Mane's  Pagan  Antiquity.  In  the  middle  of  the  valley 
lying  in  the  vicinity  is  the  Zobtenberg,  with  its  pagan  monuments.  The  coun- 
try round  about  was  called  Silensgau,  and  was,  in  fact,  the  heart  of  Silesia. — 
IHtmar  of  Mersebwrg.  This  chronicler  also  mentions,  at  that  period,  the  city  of 
Breslau  (Wrozislawa),  a  name  derived  from  "Wratislau  or  Brzetislaw. 


THE  SAXON  EMPERORS  397 

who  now  beheld  Italy  with  feelings  of  disgust,  was  shortly 
after  recalled  into  Germany  by  the  outbreak  of  the  Slavian 
war,  and  Harduin  again  caused  himself  to  be  proclaimed 
king.  The  audacity  of  the  pretender  once  more  drew  Henry 
into  Italy ;  the  rebels  were  this  time  completely  reduced  to 
submission,  and  he  visited  Rome,  A.D.  1013,  where  the  pope 
confirmed  his  claim  to  the  empire,  and  placed  the  crown  on 
his  head,  and  on  that  of  his  wife,  the  pious  Cunigunda.  It 
was  on  this  occasion  that  the  pope  bestowed  upon  the  em- 
peror the  golden  ball,  the  emblem  of  the  globe,  over  which 
he  was  destined  to  rule.  It  was  also  at  this  period  that 
Henry  created  Berthold,  Graf  of  "Walbek  (who  was  supposed 
to  be  a  descendant  of  the  ancient  race  of  Wittekind),  Graf  of 
Savoy.  Henry  revisited  Italy,  A.D.  1021,  for  the  purpose 
of  reducing  the  Greeks  in  Lower  Italy  to  subjection.  Melo 
of  Lombardy,  who  had  resisted  their  tyranny  at  Bari,  was 
constrained  to  flee.  At  the  same  time,  the  Arabs  attacked 
Salerno,  whose  duke,  "Waimar,  was  unexpectedly  saved  by  a 
ship  manned  by  forty  Normans,  who  were  returning  from 
the  Holy  Land.  They  were  sent  away  laden  with  costly 
gifts,  and  invited  to  return.  Many  of  their  countrymen 
afterward  emigrated  to  Lower  Italy,  under  the  command  of 
I)rengot  and  his  four  brethren,  who  joined  Melo  against 
the  Greeks  and  Arabs.  Drengot  fell  in  battle.  His  brother, 
Rainulf,  settled  at  Aversa,  between  Capua  and  Naples. 
Pandulf ,  duke  of  Capua,  however,  leagued  with  the  Greeks, 
but  was  taken  prisoner  by  Henry,  whose  presence  alone 
seemed  to  insure  victory.  An  epidemic,  at  length,  which 
broke  out  in  his  camp,  compelled  him  to  return  to  Germany, 
A.D.  1022. 

Disturbances  had,  meanwhile,  arisen  in  the  Netherlands. 
A  robbery,  committed  upon  some  merchants  by  the  Frisii, 
had  occasioned  a  feud  between  Dietrich,  Graf  of  Holland, 
and  Gottfried  of  Lothringia,  the  latter  of  whom  suffered  a 
heavy  defeat  at  Merwe,  A.D.  1018.  Adalbero,  a  descendant 
of  the  house  of  Luxemburg,  which  was  highly  favored  by 
the  emperor  through  the  influence  of  the  empress,  had,  more- 


398  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

over,  seized  the  archbishopric  of  Treves;1  he  was  deposed  by 
the  emperor,  who,  on  the  other  hand,  created  Henry,  the 
brother  of  Cunigunda,  duke  of  Bavaria.  Another  Adalbero, 
Graf  of  the  Murzthal,  was  nominated  to  the  government  of 
Carinthia.  Otto,  the  son  of  Conrad  of  Franconia,  had  in- 
herited both  Franconia  and  Carinthia,  which  were  divided 
between  his  sons,  Henry  and  Conrad,  each  of  whom  had  a 
son  named  Conrad,  who,  displeased  with  the  emperor's  ver- 
dict, opposed  Adalbero  and  beat  him  at  Ulm  out  of  the  field, 
but  found  themselves  unable  to  drive  him  out  of  his  moun- 
tain fastnesses.  Conrad,  the  son  of  Conrad,  retained  the 
dukedom  of  Franconia.  Conrad,  the  son  of  Henry,  who 
merely  enjoyed  the  title  of  Graf,  wedded  Gisela,  through 
whom  he  had  a  claim  upon  Burgundy,  whose  king,  Rudolf, 
had  solemnly  sworn  that  his  dominions  should  be  incorpo- 
rated, on  his  demise,  with  the  empire,  A.D.  1018. 

Henry  was  extremely  devout,  and  was  consequently  idol- 
ized by  the  clergy.2  He  held  five  councils  in  Germany,  im- 
proved and  corrected  ecclesiastical  discipline,  rebuilt  the 
churches  that  had  been  destroyed  by  the  Slavi,  and  raised  a 
magnificent  monument  to  his  own  memory  by  the  foundation 
of  the  bishopric  of  Bamberg,8  which  he  enriched  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  neighboring  landowners,  among  whom  was  the 
bishop  of  Wurzburg,  who  obstinately  resisted  his  innova- 
tions, until  appeased  by  numerous  gifts.  The  pope,  Bene- 
dict VIII.,  visited  Bamberg,  A.D.  1020,  for  the  purpose  of 
consecrating  the  new  establishment.  The  empress,  Cuni- 
gunda, was  equally  pious.  The  imperial  pair  had  mutually 

1  The  rightful  archbishop,  Megingod,  had,  during  the  usurpation  of  Adalbero, 
received  the  bishopric  of  Coblentz  by  way  of  indemnification.  After  his  restora- 
tion, this  bishopric  still  remained  attached  to  Treves. 

4  It  is  related  of  him  that  he  even  wished  to  become  a  monk  at  Strasburg, 
but  had  no  sooner  taken  the  oath  of  implicit  obedience  than  he  was  commanded 
by  Bishop  Werner  to  resume  his  crown. 

3  It  is  supposed  that  he  sought  to  expiate  the  criminal  action  of  his  ancestors 
against  Adalbert  of  Babenberg  by  the  consecration  of  the  lands  unjustly  seized 
by  them  to  the  service  of  God.  An  idea  in  which  he  was  upheld  by  Cunigunda. 
It  was  on  this  account  that  the  privileges  granted  to  Bamberg  were  called  Cuni- 
gunda's  silken  threads,  by  which,  it  was  said,  the  city  was  defended  better  than 
by  towers  and  walls. 


THE  SAXON  EMPERORS  399 

taken  the  vow  of  chastity,  and  remained  childless.  Cuni- 
gunda's  virtue,  however,  did  not  escape  slander,  and  she  vol- 
untarily underwent  the  ordeal  by  fire,  and  walked  unharmed 
over  glowing  iron.  Henry,  when  on  his  death-bed,  named 
as  his  successor  Graf  Conrad,  the  husband  of  Gisela,  on  ac- 
count of  his  being  the  ablest  descendant  of  the  most  powerful 
race  that  remained  in  Germany  after  the  extinction  of  that 
of  the  Ottos,  thus  repaying,  with  equal  magnanimity,  the 
generous  conduct  of  Conrad  I.,  when  dying,  toward  the 
house  of  Saxony.  He  expired  A.D.  1024,  and  was  interred 
at  Bamberg.1 

CXXXVIII.   Immunities — Increasing  Importance  of  the 

Churches  and  Cities,  and  Consequent  Decrease 

of  the  Ducal  Power 

CHARTERS  and  franchises  had  been  lavishly  distributed 
by  the  Saxon  emperors,  for  the  purpose  of  creating  a  multi- 
tude of  minor  nobles  and  corporations,  independent  of  the 
dukes,  against  whose  power  they  served  as  a  counterpoise. 
This  political  motive  had  induced  Charlemagne  to  favor  the 
bishops :  their  power  was  still  more  increased  by  the  Ottos, 
who  did  not  yet  foresee  the  danger  to  which  it  might,  at  some 
future  period,  expose  the  state.  The  popes  were,  moreover, 
too  busily  engaged  with  Italy  and  too  powerless  to  excite  the 
jealousy  of  the  emperors,  in  whose  hands  the  church  was  a 
mere  tool.  The  numerous  armed  vassals  subservient  to  the 
bishops  and  abbots  necessarily  diminished  the  number  of 
those  who  owed  allegiance  to  the  dukes  and  Markgraf  s ;  and 
the  greater  the  extent  of  the  lands  beneath  the  sway  of  the 
crosier,  so  much  the  less  could,  consequently,  be  under  the 
control  of  the  temporal  lords.  To  these  motives  may  be  as- 
cribed the  enormous  donations  to  the  church,  the  endowment 


1  On  his  tombstone  stands  a  figure  of  Justice  with  a  pair  of  scales,  the  index 
of  which  inclines  a  little  to  one  side.  As  soon  as  the  poise  shall  become  equal 
the  world  will  be  at  an  end. 


400  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

of  churchmen  with  temporal  rights  and  power,  the  union  of 
the  imperial  office  of  Graf  with  the  ecclesiastical  dignity  of 
bishop,  and  the  immunity  or  affranchisement  from  the  su- 
preme authority  of  the  dukes. 

The  Sendgrafs,  or  commissioned  officers  of  the  crown, 
created  by  Charlemagne,  had,  under  the  Ottos,  been  con- 
verted into  Pfalzgrafs,  or  administrators  of  the  crown  lands, 
revenues,  etc.,  in  the  different  dukedoms,  who,  at  the  same 
time,  in  some  measure  controlled  the  dukes.  Besides  them, 
Markgrafs,  who  acted  independently  of  the  dukes,  were 
placed  in  the  newly-conquered  frontier  provinces,  and  the 
elevation  within  the  dukedoms  of  powerful  Grafs,  who,  al- 
though nominally  subservient  to  the  dukes,  equaled  them  in 
wealth  and  influence,  and  could  even  compete  with  them 
in  political  power,  was  also  encouraged  by  the  Saxon  em- 
perors, who  thus  blindly  laid  a  mine  destined  to  shake  the 
imperial  throne.  The  dukes,  whose  power  merely  arose  from 
the  office  they  held  under  the  crown,  and  the  independent 
spirit  of  the  nations  to  which  they  belonged,  far  less  endan- 
gered the  power  of  the  emperor  than  did  the  great  families 
of  later  date,  who  were  hereditarily  possessed  of  immensely 
extensive  lands.  And  while  the  emperors  were  thus  endeav- 
oring to  hasten  the  decay  of  the  ancient  dukedoms,  and  to 
consign  the  very  names  of  the  ancient  nations  to  oblivion, 
they  were  far  from  foreseeing  that  the  time  might  arrive 
when  new  names,  that  owed  their  origin  to  some  unnoted 
fort,  would  lay  the  whole  empire  at  their  feet. 

The  ancient  division  of  the  empire  into  dukedoms  and 
provinces  (gaue)  gradually  gave  place  to  one  more  complex, 
caused  either  by  the  formation  of  ecclesiastical  and  temporal 
feudal  territories  within  the  provinces  and  dukedoms,  or  by 
the  encroachment  of  one  enormous  feudal  territory  on  sev- 
eral of  the  provinces  and  even  of  the  dukedoms,  while  the 
ancient  uniformity  of  condition  was  everywhere  destroyed 
by  charters  and  franchises  or  immunities. 

The  last  remnants  of  the  ancient  freemen,  who  had  not 
been  gathered  into  the  cities,  had  formed  themselves  into 


THE  SAXON  EMPERORS  401 

communities  of  free  peasantry,  who,  although  recognizing  a 
duke  or  Graf  in  his  judicial  capacity  as  a  delegate  of  the 
crown,  or  a  bishop  as  their  spiritual  guide,  retained  their 
ancient  privileges  in  all  other  respects.  The  repeated  at- 
tempts of  the  nobles  to  reduce  them  to  a  state  of  vassalage, 
were,  nevertheless,  generally  successful,  and  liberty  at  length 
sought  refuge  amid  the  peasantry  of  Lower  Saxony  and  Switz- 
erland. In  A.D.  922,  the  western  Frisii  had  already  been 
reduced  to  vassalage  by  Dietrich  of  Holland,  who  also  made 
a  similar  attempt  upon  the  liberties  of  the  free  eastern  Frisii, 
but  met  with  armed  resistance,  and  was  repulsed  in  several 
campaigns. 

The  eastern  Frisii  consisted  of  seven  petty  republics, 
called  the  Seelands,  united  in  the  ancient  German  man- 
ner; they  held  their  general  assemblies  at  the  Upstales- 
bome  (Obergerichts  baum,  tree  of  justice),  and  were  gov- 
erned by  their  own  laws,  merely  recognizing  the  archbishop 
of  Bremen  as  their  patron,  the  only  bond  that  united  them 
to  the  empire.  Saxony  also  still  preserved  much  of  her  an- 
cient freedom.  The  Saxon  Grafs,  who  still,  as  in  times  of 
yore,  held  their  provincial  courts  of  justice  in  the  open  air, 
with  the  elected  aldermen  or  Schoppen,  in  the  presence  of 
all  the  freemen  of  the  province,  were  distinguished  by  the 
epithet  of  Freegrafs,  their  courts  of  justice  were  also  called 
free  courts,  the  aldermen,  free  aldermen  or  Freischoppen, 
and  the  seat  of  justice,  the  Freistuhl  or  free  seat.  There 
were  also  numerous  free  peasantry  in  Switzerland  and  in 
Swabia,  and,  under  Otto  III.,  a  bloody  feud  arose  in  the 
Thurgau,  owing  to  the  attempts  of  the  nobility  and  clergy 
to  reduce  the  people  to  a  state  of  vassalage.  The  peasants, 
headed  by  one  of  their  class,  Heinz  von  Stein,  rose  in  open 
insurrection,  and,  A.D.  992,  a  battle  was  fought  near  Dies- 
senhofen,  which,  although  the  nobles  were  victorious,  taught 
the  Alpine  shepherds  caution,  and  was  merely  a  prelude  to 
the  great  struggle  for  freedom  that  arose  at  a  later  period. 
Radbot,  the  founder  of  the  Habsburg,  may  be  said  to  have 
inoculated  his  race  with  hatred  to  freedom  by  the  violent 


402  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

reduction  of  his  free  peasantry  to  a  state  of  vassalage,1 
A.D.  1018. 

While  territorial  wealth  and  influence  were  thus  usurped 
by  the  clergy  and  the  nobility,  the  ancient  freemen,  col- 
lected within  the  cities,  strained  every  nerve,  not  so  much, 
however,  in  order  to  protect  as  in  order  to  extend  their  priv- 
ileges, and  to  manifest  their  importance  as  the  third  power 
in  the  state.  The  emperors,  perceiving  that  the  most  effi- 
cient remedy  against  the  ascendency  of  the  dukes  lay  in  the 
flourishing  state  of  the  cities,  greatly  aided  their  endeavors 
by  the  grants  and  charters  freely  lavished  upon  them,  and  a 
number  of  new  cities  consequently  sprang  up,  into  which  all 
the  freemen,  harassed  by  the  feudal  lords,  quickly  thronged. 
These  cities  were  liberally  chartered  by  the  Ottos.  For  in- 
stance, they  granted  to  townships,  that  had  gradually  grown 
into  cities,  and  were  situated  on  the  territory  and  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  either  spiritual  or  temporal  lords,  the  rights 
belonging  to  free  imperial  towns,  and  placed  them  beneath 
the  imperial  jurisdiction ;  they  also  granted  privileges  to  the 
larger  cities,  such  as  the  right  of  coinage,  and  that  of  exact- 
ing customs,  which  were  formerly  alone  conceded  to  the 
bishops  and  the  dukes. 

The  internal  government  and  legislation  of  the  cities  were 
equally  favored  by  the  charters  granted  to  them  by  the 
Ottos.  The  governor,  nominated  by  the  crown,  only  nomi- 
nally held  the  supreme  direction  of  affairs,  and  seldom  even 
resided  in  the  town,  but  was  generally  one  of  the  neighbor- 
ing Grafs,  who,  contenting  himself  with  receiving  the  gifts 
of  the  citizens,  and  with  being  entertained  by  them,  left  them 
completely  at  liberty.  "Whenever  the  emperor  chanced  to  visit 
a  town,  the  citizens  vied  with  each  other  in  paying  him  honor, 
in  return  for  which  he  conferred  additional  privileges  upon 
them.  The  imperial  governor  or  Reichsvogt  ( Waltbot,  Oe- 


1  Aided  by  his  brother,  the  influential  Bishop  Werner  of  Strasburg,  who 
built  the  monastery  of  Muri  with  the  wealth  gained  by  the  subjection  of  the 
peasantry.  Their  grandfather  Guntram  the  Rich,  had  already  collected  vast 
treasures. 


THE   SAXON   EMPERORS  403 

waltbote,  messenger  of  power,  in  Latin,  potestas,  in  Italian, 
podesta — missus  regius,  Sendgraf,  royal  messenger,  Send- 
schalk  or  seneschal),  generally  called  the  Burggrafor  Burg- 
vogt,  commanded  the  city  troops  in  war  time,  and  exercised  the 
judicial  office  in  the  name  of  the  emperor :  these  offices  were 
sometimes  separate,  but  usually  devolved  upon  one  person. 
The  twelve  aldermen  or  Schoppen,  elected  by  the  citizens, 
were  next  in  rank.  Their  president,  the  mayor  or  Schul- 
theiss,  at  first  merely  took  cognizance  of  petty  civil  matters, 
but  finally  either  filled  the  office  of  the  governor,  when  ab- 
sent, or  was  empowered  to  replace  him  by  means  of  an  im- 
perial charter.  The  mayor  and  aldermen  also  formed  the 
town  council,  to  which  was  committed  the  management  of 
the  public  affairs.  In  the  great  cities  each  parish  had  its 
separate  aldermen,  who  met  in  a  general  town  council.  All 
the  cities  that  had  originally  been  governed  by  an  imperial 
officer  remained  immediately  under  the  crown,  and  were  dis- 
tinguished as  free  imperial  towns.  Other  cities,  which  had 
sprung  up  around  the  imperial  palaces,  as,  for  instance,  Ulm, 
finally  became  imperial  towns,  although  their  citizens  were 
originally  merely  royal  bondmen.  Ducal  and  episcopal  cities 
arose  by  means  of  vassals  who  had  settled  in  the  vicinity  of 
a  bishop's  cathedral,  or  around  the  castle  of  a  duke.  These 
also  became  gradually  free  towns,  without  being  immedi- 
ately under  the  crown,  and  were  therefore  merely  distin- 
guished as  free  towns. 

The  citizens  everywhere  consisted  of  the  proprietors  of 
houses  or  of  land,  part  of  whom  were  the  oldest  Burgenses, 
or  burgesses,  who  had  divided  the  ground  on  which  the  town 
or  city  was  to  be  raised  among  themselves,  and  had  built 
their  houses  on  it ;  or  the  proprietors  of  land  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  city ;  or  else  the  free  landowners  who  withdrew  into 
the  cities  at  a  later  period,  and  who  still  retained  their 
landed  property.  The  ancient  Burgenses,  now  cives  or  free 
citizens  of  the  empire,  possessed  all  the  power,  and  formed  a 
class  superior  to,  and  distinct  from,  that  of  the  bondsmen, 
who  either  acted  as  personal  servants  under  the  patronage 


404  THE  HISTORY  OF  GERMANY 

of  the  different  burgher  families,  or  were  people  who  had 
placed  themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  community, 
such  as  artificers,  journeymen,  porters,  sailors,  etc.  The 
tyranny  of  the  petty  landowners  drove  multitudes  into  the 
cities;  hence  it  necessarily  happened  that  the  bondsmen 
were  ten  or  twenty  times  superior  in  number  to  the  ancient 
burghers,  who,  being  the  sole  proprietors  of  the  privileges 
and  wealth  of  the  city,  treated  the  second  class  with  all  the 
pride  attached  to  free  and  noble  birth,  carefully  avoided  any 
connection  with  them,  denominated  themselves,  by  way  of 
distinction,  houses  or  people  of  gentle  blood,  formed  them- 
selves into  an  aristocratical  association  united  by  intermar- 
riage and  general  commercial  undertakings,  and  also  re- 
served to  themselves  the  right  of  holding  public  meetings  or 
Richerzeche  (corporations  of  the  rich,  Reichen,  or  of  the  free 
citizens  of  the  empire,  Reichsbiirger9),  while  they  strictly 
forbade  the  formation  of  any  kind  of  association  among  the 
lower  classes.  The  earlier  the  period,  the  more  distinctly  are 
two  different  classes  of  city  families  to  be  distinguished,  in 
which  the  ancient  distinction  that  existed  between  the  Edel- 
ings  and  the  Frilings  is  still  clearly  recognizable.  There  was 
also  a  third  class  of  knights,  probably  settlers  of  a  later  date, 
whose  knighthood  conferred  upon  them  nobility  and  free- 
dom, but  who  had  not  as  yet  intermixed  with  the  old  fami- 
lies. The  artificers,  however,  as  they  increased  in  numerical 
strength,  and  distinguished  themselves  in  the  feuds  that  arose 
between  the  different  cities,  gradually  obtained  greater  privi- 
leges. They  divided  themselves  into  guilds,  and  the  assem- 
bly of  the  heads  of  the  different  guilds,  under  the  presidency 
of  a  burgomaster,  ere  long  threatened  the  burghers  and  their 
mayor  with  civil  broils,  which,  at  a  later  period,  actually 
broke  out  between  them. 

The  ancient  burghers,,  before  taking  the  entire  manage- 
ment of  the  city  affairs  into  their  hands  under  the  direction 
of  their  mayor,  had  formed  themselves  into  a  mercantile  cor- 
poration or  guild,  endowed  with  peculiar  privileges  (under 
Henry  II.).  Even  in  later  times,  the  city  government  re- 


THE   SAXON  EMPERORS  405 

tained  its  mercantile  spirit,  and  the  civil  and  commercial 
polity  generally  remained  inseparably  united.  Even  in  cases 
where  the  burghers  appear  as  landowners  distinguished  from 
the  merchants,  whose  wealth  merely  consisted  in  their  float- 
ing capital,  their  interests  were  ever  united,  and  the  mer- 
chants seem  to  have  been  the  younger  sons  of  the  landown- 
ers, who  sought  a  respectable  employment,  or  immigrants 
who  settled  in  the  towns,  from  whom  the  inhabitants  ac- 
quired their  knowledge  of  commerce.  The  emperor  and  the 
princes  appear  often  to  have  been  induced  to  favor  the  civil 
liberty  of  the  towns  merely  on  account  of  commercial  advan- 
tage. Commerce  made  a  rapid  progress  in  Germany.  It  is 
said  that  the  city  of  Cologne,  in  the  eleventh  century,  num- 
bered upward  of  five  hundred  mercantile  men  within  her 
walls.  Cologne,  Hamburg,  Schleswig,  and  Bremen  were 
staple-towns,  and  as  soon  as  the  piracy  of  the  Norsemen,  after 
their  conversion  to  Christianity,  ceased,  their  ships  and  those 
of  the  Frieslanders  visited  the  northern  seas.  The  ships  of 
Friesland  touched  at  Greenland.  The  cities  traded  with  all 
the  northern  countries,  most  particularly  with  England.  The 
intermarriage  by  which  the  imperial  house  of  Germany  was 
allied  with  that  of  Greece  had  rendered  the  emperors  doubly 
solicitous  to  open  a  line  of  commerce  from  the  south.  In  996, 
Otto  III.  gave  the  Jews,  Lombards  and  French  permission 
to  traverse  Germany  with  their  wares :  the  most  remarkable 
among  these  traders  were  those  of  Cahors  in  Guyenne,  the 
Caorsini  or  Italian  peddlers. 

The  age  in  which  the  Saxon  emperors  reigned  is  remark- 
ably devoid  of  men  of  science  and  learning.  The  schools  of 
Alcuin  and  of  Rhabanus  Maurus  had  disappeared,  while  the 
refinement  borrowed  from  Italy  and  Greece  had  been  only 
partially  adopted.  The  higher  ecclesiastical  dignities  were 
always  held  by  the  brothers  and  relatives  of  the  highest  and 
most  influential  families,  so  that  the  elevation  of  "Willigis,  a 
man  of  low  birth,  to  the  archbishopric  of  Mayence,  naturally 
gave  rise  to  much  surprise  and  discontent.  These  dignita- 
ries, moreover,  merely  interested  themselves  in  increasing 


406  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

their  possessions,  and  preferred  war  and  the  chase  to  study 
and  learning.  The  people  were,  naturally,  still  more  igno- 
rant than  the  clergy,  and  rendered  wild  and  uncivilized  by 
the  covetousness  of  the  nobility,  who  sought  to  reduce  them 
to  a  state  of  vassalage,  similar  to  that  imposed  upon  the  con- 
quered Slavi.  The  natural  inclinations  of  each  individual  are 
necessarily  stronger  whenever  the  intellect  is  neglected ;  the 
warlike  Gero,  who  laid  down  his  sword  and  became  a  monk, 
is  but  one  example  of  the  manners  of  the  times,  when  men, 
the  greater  portion  of  whose  lives  had  been  one  continued 
scene  of  violence  and  bloodshed,  were  driven  by  remorse  to 
expiate  their  crimes  in  seclusion  and  by  prayer. 

The  celebrated  Gerbert,  Pope  Sylvester  II.,  exercised  but 
little  influence  on  his  times;  that  of  the  Grecian  princess, 
Theuphano,  was  equally  limited,  although  ancient  authors 
were  studied  in  some  of  the  monasteries,  and  it  is  probable 
that,  at  that  time,  several  manuscripts  were  brought  from 
the  south  into  Germany.  For  instance,  the  nun,  Roswitha, 
of  Gandersheim,  A.D.  980,  discovered  a  manuscript  copy  of 
the  comedies  of  Terence,  in  which  she  took  such  great  de- 
light as  to  translate  them  elegantly  into  Latin.  She  also 
composed  a  song  in  praise  of  the  Ottos.  The  monk  Eckehard 
of  St.  Gall  sang  in  Latin  verse  the  adventures  of  Walther  of 
Aquitania,  the  first  example  of  heroic  poesy.  Rather,  the 
Dutchman,  who  became  bishop  of  Verona,  distinguished 
himself  by  some  writings,  in  which  he  decried  the  igno- 
rance, lewdness,  and  vice  of  the  monks,  for  which  he  was 
grievously  persecuted.  Besides  these  writers,  the  tenth  cent- 
ury could  only  boast  of  three  great  chroniclers :  Luitprand, 
bishop  of  Cremona,  A.D.  946,  who,  being  attached  to  the  em- 
bassy sent  by  Otto  I.  to  Constantinople,  recorded  its  fate,  and 
described  the  manners  of  the  Grecian  court;  he  also  wrote  a 
chronicle  and  biography  of  the  popes.  Wittekind  of  Corvey, 
A.D.  973,  wrote  an  excellent  history  of  Saxony.  Ditmar, 
bishop  of  Merseburg,1  a  descendant  of  the  Salic  race,  wrote, 

1  He  thus  describes  himself  with  the  pious  simplicity  of  the  times:  "I  am 
but  a  little  man.     My  left  jawbone  and  the  whole  side  of  my  face  are  disfigured 


THE   FRANCONIAN,   SALIC    EMPERORS  407 

A.D.  1015,  an  equally  famous  account  of  the  Saxon  emperors, 
and  particularly  mentions  the  Slavi,  among  whom  he  dwelt. 
The  alliance  of  the  Ottos  with  Italy  and  Greece  was  more 
favorable  to  the  development  of  art  than  to  the  progression  of 
science.  By  their  erection  of  numerous  magnificent  churches 
in  the  Byzantine  and  Roman  style  of  architecture,  they  gave 
an  impulse  to  art  which,  in  the  following  century,  produced 
the  true  German  or  Gothic  style,  the  transition  to  which  is 
exemplified  in  the  celebrated  cathedral  at  Strasburg,  founded 
in  1015  by  Bishop  Werner,  and  afterward  finished  on  more 
extensive  plans.  Nor  does  painting  appear  to  have  been 
unpatronized.  Luitprand  asserts  that  the  victory  won  by 
Henry  I.  in  the  vicinity  of  Merseburg  was  represented  with 
such  truth  that  the  beholder  imagined  himself  present  on 
the  field  of  battle.  Kugler,  in  his  History  of  Art,  says  that 
sculpture  progressed  more  rapidly  in  Saxony  than  in  Italy. 
Music  also  was  cultivated  by  Notker  and  other  ecclesiastics. 


PART    X 
THE   FRANCONIAN,    SALIC   EMPERORS 


CXXXIX.    Conrad  the  Second 

ON  the  death  of  Henry  II. ,  the  last  of  the  Ottos,  a 
general  assembly  of  the  different  nations  belong- 
ing to  the  empire  was  convoked.     They  gathered 
from  every  quarter,  and  encamped  in  countless  multitudes 
on  the  great  plain  between  Worms  and  Mayence,  on  either 
side  of  the  Rhine,  A.D.  1024.     The  dukes  appeared  in  person, 
their  banners  followed  by  the  Markgrafs,  Grafs,  and  minor 

with  an  incurable  fistula.  In  my  childhood  I  broke  the  bridge  of  my  nose,  which 
gives  me  a  comical  appearance.  Nor  are  my  qualities  of  heart  and  mind  supe- 
rior. I  am  a  miserable  creature,  given  to  anger,  obstinate,  envious,  and,  not- 
withstanding the  ridiculousness  of  my  own  person,  apt  to  deride  others,  a  glutton, 
a  hypocrite,  a  miser,"  etc. 


408  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

nobles,  besides  an  innumerable  throng  of  vassals.  With  equal 
state  came  the  archbishops,  bishops,  and  abbots  of  the  realm, 
with  their  haughty  retainers ;  the  broad  land  scarcely  sufficed 
for  the  number  of  noble-born  Germans,  met  for  the  purpose 
of  electing  a  successor  to  their  deceased  monarch.  On  the 
right  bank  of  the  Rhine  were  stationed  the  Saxons  under 
their  duke,  Bernhard,  the  Swabians  under  Duke  Ernst,  the 
Bavarians  under  Duke  Henry,  the  Carinthians  under  Duke 
Adalbero,  and  the  Bohemians  under  Duke  Othelrich.  On 
the  left  bank  were  seen  the  Franconians  under  Duke  Con- 
rad, the  Upper  Lothringians  under  Duke  Frederick,  and  the 
Lower  Lothringians  under  Duke  Gottfried  (Gozilo). 

The  house  of  Franconia,  which,  through  the  favor  of 
Bishop  Hatto,  had  first  enriched  itself  during  the  Babenberg 
feud,  and  from  which  the  emperor  Conrad  I.  descended,  had 
fallen  to  the  brave  Conrad  (who  lost  his  life  when  opposing 
the  Hungarians),  by  his  marriage  with  a  daughter  of  that 
emperor.  The  fidelity  he  had  evinced  toward  the  house  of 
Saxony  was  repaid  to  his  son  Otto,  who  was  created  duke 
of  Franconia  and  Carinthia,  and  both  of  whose  grandsons 
now  set  up  a  claim  to  the  imperial  throne ;  Graf  Conrad,  the 
husband  of  Gisela,  the  younger  in  years,  but  the  son  of 
the  elder  brother,  and  moreover  the  one  recommended  by 
Henry  II.,  when  on  his  death-bed,  as  his  successor,  and  the 
Duke  Conrad,  the  elder  in  years,  but  the  son  of  the  younger 
son,  and  less  distinguished  for  talent.  The  family  of  these 
two  competitors  for  the  crown  was  so  illustrious  that  a  still 
more  ancient  origin  was,  by  way  of  flattery,  ascribed  to  it, 
and  it  was  deduced  from  the  Merovingians,  and  named  the 
Salic  race. 

The  election  of  one  of  the  Conrads  was  unanimously  re- 
solved upon  by  all  the  great  vassals  of  the  empire,  and  both 
of  the  competitors,  on  the  declaration  of  this  decision  in  their 
favor,  magnanimously  agreed,  for  the  sake  of  the  state,  to 
yield  submissively  to  the  verdict  about  to  be  pronounced. 
The  Graf,  accordingly,  held  a  private  conference  with  the 
duke,  and  it  was  amicably  stipulated  between  them  that 


THE  FRANCONIAN,   SALIC   EMPERORS  409 

the  excluded  one  should  be  the  first  to  swear  allegiance  to 
his  elected  rival.  The  electors  met,  and  the  first  vote,  that 
of  Aribo,  archbishop  of  Mayence,  was  given  in  favor  of  Con- 
rad the  elder;  all  the  bishops  added  their  suffrages,  and 
Conrad  the  younger  was  the  first  among  the  temporal  lords 
who  rose  and  gave  his  vote  in  favor  of  the  Graf,  who  was 
with  one  joyous  acclaim  elected  emperor  by  the  rest  of  the 
vassal  princes,  and  the  new  sovereign,  seating  himself  at 
the  side  of  his  loyal-hearted  cousin,  was  proclaimed  emperor 
by  the  shouting  multitude.  Frederick  of  Lothringia  and  the 
archbishop  of  Cologne,  the  only  malcontents,  silently  quitted 
the  assembly.  Their  departure  was  perceived  by  the  Duke 
Conrad,  who,  hurrying  after  them,  led  them  amicably  back. 
How  could  they  withstand  the  entreaties  of  a  man  who  had 
just  sacrificed  his  ambitious  hopes  for  the  weal  of  the  state? 
Nor  were  the  expectations  of  the  nation  in  their  elected  mon- 
arch deceived ;  Conrad  of  Franconia  was  one  of  the  noblest 
sovereigns  who  ever  swayed  the  scepter  of  Germany. 

By  his  first  decree,  still  preserved  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  he 
rendered  the  fiefs  of  the  petty  vassals  (the  lesser  nobility) 
hereditary,  a  deeply  calculated  measure,  by  which  he  aimed 
at  creating  a  counterpoise  in  the  state  to  the  great  vassals. ' 
He  visited  the  different  provinces  of  the  empire,  in  order  to 
arrange  its  internal  economy,  everywhere  dealing  impartial 
justice.  He  was,  however,  speedily  recalled  by  affairs  re- 
lating to  the  Burgundian  succession,  King  Rudolf  having 
refused  to  fulfill  the  promise  he  had  made  to  Henry,  to  the 
newly-elected  sovereign,  who  was  fully  aware  of  the  impor- 
tance of  reincorporating  Burgundy  with  the  empire.  His 
persuasions,  and  those  of  Gisela,  Conrad's  wife  and  Rudolf's 
granddaughter,  were  at  length  successful,  and  the  aged  king 
renewed  his  plighted  word. 

On  the  decease  of  Henry  II.  the  Italians  asserted  that  the 
hereditary  right  of  the  emperors  to  Italy  had  expired,  and 


1  Militum  animos  in  hoc  multum  attraxit,  quod  antiqna  beneflciap  arenti 
neraini  posterorum  auf erri  sustiiiuit.  —  Wippo. 

GERMANY.    VOL.  I. — 18 


410  THE    HISTORY   OF    GERMANY 

offered  the  crown  to  Hugh,  the  son  of  Robert,  king  of  France. 
Robert  refused  it,  and  a  friendly  interview  took  place  be- 
tween him  and  the  emperor,  on  the  little  river  Cher,  at  that 
time  the  boundary  of  the  empire.  The  Italians  next  made 
choice  of  a  son  of  "William,  duke  of  Aquitania,  who,  in  reply, 
upbraided  them  for  their  treachery,  so  greatly  did  the  French 
still  fear  to  irritate  the  German  emperor.  Conrad  crossed 
the  Alps,  A.D.  1026,  and  planted  the  banner  of  the  empire 
in  the  valley  of  Ronceval,  near  Piacenza.  Rainer,  Markgraf 
of  Tuscany,  refusing  to  do  homage,  the  emperor  bestowed 
his  lands  upon  Bonifacius,  the  lord  of  Mantua,  Modena,  Fer- 
rara,  and  Reggio,  who  thus  became  the  most  powerful  of  the 
Italian  princes.  .  Pavia  rebelled  and  was  vainly  besieged  by 
Conrad,  and  riots,  which  were  suppressed  and  punished,  took 
place  in  Ravenna  and  Rome  during  his  presence  in  those 
cities.  A  splendid  court  was  held  by  him  at  Rome,  where 
he  and  his  wife  Gisela  were  solemnly  crowned.  He  was  also 
visited  here  by  two  kings,  Rudolf  of  Burgundy  and  Canute 
the  Great,  who  had  succeeded  his  father  Swein  on  the 
thrones  of  Denmark  and  of  England,  and  had  conquered 
Norway.  This  powerful  monarch1  had  visited  Rome  in  order 
to  see  the  wonders  of  the  South.  He  married  his  daughter, 
Cunihilda,  to  Henry,  the  son  of  Conrad,  who  became  duke 
of  Bavaria  on  the  extinction  of  the  house  of  Luxemburg. 
Canute  held  Schleswig  in  fee  of  the  empire.  After  re-estab- 
lishing peace  in  Lower  Italy,  Conrad  extended  the  lands  held 
by  the  Normans  on  condition  of  their  protecting  the  frontier. 
He  was  shortly  afterward  recalled  by  a  melancholy  occur- 
rence to  the  other  side  of  the  Alps. 

The  whole  of  Swabia  was  in  an  uproar.  The  Duke  Ernst, 
as  the  elder  son  of  Gisela  by  her  first  marriage,  believed  him- 
self justified  in  claiming  Burgundy  as  his  inheritance,  in  op- 
position to  his  stepfather  Conrad,  although  Rudolf,  instead 
of  bequeathing  his  kingdom  to  the  Salic  family,  had  merely 
reincorporated  it  with  the  empire.  With  him  were  united 

1  His  usual  body-guard  was  composed  of  6,000  men  bearing  gilt  halberds. 


THE   FRANCONIAN,   SALIC    EMPERORS  411 

two  Swabian  Grafs  of  ancient  race,  Rudolf  Welf,  or  Guelph,1 
the  hereditary  enemy  of  the  Salic  family,  and  Werner  of 
Kyburg. 

During  Conrad's  absence  in  Italy,  Ernst,  "Welf,  and 
Werner  attacked  the  adherents  and  invaded  the  lands  of 
the  Salic  family,  which  they  laid  waste  without  opposition, 
and  took  possession  of  Solothurn.  These  events  caused  Con- 
rad to  hasten  his  return,  and  to  convoke  a  great  Diet  at 
Ulm,  at  which  Ernst  appeared  at  the  head  of  his  armed 
Swabians.  In  vain  did  Gisela  entreat  him  to  submit,  and 
to  return  to  his  allegiance.  His  rebellious  spirit,  however, 
was  not  shared  by  his  vassals,  who,  when  the  matter  came 
to  an  issue,  unanimously  declared  that  the  oath  of  allegiance 
which  bound  them  to  their  duke  in  no  wise  released  them 
from  that  which  bound  them  to  the  emperor  and  to  the  state, 
and  that,  if  the  duke  were  at  feud  with  the  empire,  it  was 
their  duty  to  aid  the  latter;  and  with  one  accord  they  aban- 
doned their  rebellious  chieftains.  Ernst,  thus  left  at  the 
mercy  of  his  opponents,  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  on  a 


1  In  the  fifth  century,  Bdica  and  "Wulfo  appear  as  princes  of  the  Scirri.  Un- 
der Charlemagne  there  flourished  a  "Warm,  count  of  Altorf,  whose  son  and  suc- 
cessor, Isenbart,  caused  St.  Otmar  of  St.  Gall  to  be  put  to  death  in  prison.  He 
saved  the  life  of  Charlemagne,  who  was  attacked  b^  a  wild  ox,  when  hunting, 
and  was  rewarded  with  the  hand  of  his  sister  Irmentraut.  The  legend  relates 
that  one  day,  chancing  to  meet  with  an  old  woman  who  had  given  birth  to  three 
children,  he  declared  such  an  occurrence  unnatural,  and  accused  her  of  adultery. 
The  injured  woman,  in  .reply,  entreated  Heaven  that  the  Countess  Irmentraut 
might  be  delivered  of  as  many  children  as  there  were  months  in  the  year.  Her 
prayer  was  heard,  and  Irmentraut  bare  twelve  boys.  Fearing  her  husband's 
severity,  she  ordered  a  female  attendant  to  cast  eleven  of  them  into  the  river. 
The  maid  obeyed,  but  on  her  way  thither  was  met  by  the  Graf,  who  inquired  of 
her  what  she  was  carrying  in  her  basket.  "Welf en,"  "puppies,"  replied  the 
frightened  girl.  Isenbart  then  lifted  the  cloth  from  off  the  basket,  and  seeing 
that  the  children  were  fine  and  healthy,  acknowledged  them  for  his  own,  and 
had  them  secretly  brought  up.  When  they  were  grown  up,  he  presented  them 
to  their  mother.  It  was  owing  to  this  circumstance  that  this  family  received  the 
name  of  Welf,  or  Guelph. 

Welf  I.,  one  of  the-  twelve,  was  Isenbart's  successor;  his  granddaughter, 
Jutta  or  Judith,  married  the  emperor  Louis  the  Pious.  Her  father,  Eticho  (see 
Chap.  CXXVL),  succeeded  to  the  family  honors.  Since  his  time,  the  Welfian 
house  dwelt  generally  in  retirement,  on  the  Bodensee,  at  Altorf.  It  is  probable 
that  the  ancient  enmity  between  this  house  and  that  of  Saxony  caused  it  to  side 
with  the  Babenbergers.  Duke  Ernst,  the  descendant  of  the  ancient  house  of 
Babenberg,  now  stood  again  opposed  to  the  reigning  imperial  family. 


412  THE    HISTORY   OF    GERMANY 

charge  of  high  treason,  in  the  fortress  of  Giebichenstein  in 
Saxony.  "Welf  was  exiled.  "Werner  of  Kyburg,  A.D.  1087, 
valiantly  defended  his  castle  for  several  months  against  the 
imperial  troops,  but  finding  it  at  length  untenable,  contrived 
to  make  his  escape.  Three  years  later,  A.D.  1030,  Conrad 
restored  his  stepson  to  liberty,  and,  in  the  presence  of  his 
mother  Gisela,  promised  to  replace  him  on  the  ducal  throne 
of  Swabia,  on  condition  of  his  betraying  the  secret  of  "Wer- 
ner's retreat.  "How  can  I  betray  my  only  true  friend!" 
replied  the  unfortunate  duke.  In  consequence  of  this  refusal 
he  was  declared  by  his  peers  guilty  of  misprision  of  treason, 
placed  out  of  the  ban  of  the  empire,  and  reduced  to  complete 
beggary.  Driven  to  despair,  he  took  refuge  with  his  friend 
Werner  in  the  Black  Forest,  where  they  led  a  robber's  life, 
and  were  aided  by  Adalbert  of  Falkenstein,  who  gave  them 
his  castle  for  a  stronghold,  whence  they  laid  the  whole  coun- 
try under  contribution.  The  Swabians,  headed  by  Graf  Man- 
gold of  Veringen,  besieged  the  fortress,  surrounded  the  gar- 
rison during  a  sally,  and,  after  an  obstinate  struggle  in 
which  Mangold  fell,  succeeded  in  cutting  them  to  pieces. 
Hermann,  Ernst's  younger  brother,  succeeded  him  as  duke 
of  Swabia,  A.D.  1037.  The  valor  and  wretched  fate  of  Duke 
Ernst1  made  a  deep  impression  on  the  imagination  of  the 
people,  and  he  became  the  hero  of  many  a  ballad.  The  em- 
peror was  used  to  say  of  him,  "Mad  dogs  never  increase 
their  race!" 

Other  cares,  meanwhile,  divided  the  attention  of  the  em- 


1  In  the  following  century,  the  adventures  of  Duke  Ernst  were  ingeniously 
and  poetically  intermixed  with  the  Oriental  ideas  introduced  by  the  Crusades, 
and  were  detailed  at  length  in  a  legend  still  extant  among  the  popular  ballads  of 
those  times.  The  hero  is  there  conducted  into  the  East,  where  he  is  opposed  by 
all  the  most  terrific  creatures,  men  and  beasts  horrible  to  behold,  intended  as 
allegorical  representations  of  his  actual  misfortunes.  Each  monster  personifies 
an  enemy  or  a  betrayer.  He  reaches  a  black  mountain,  which  signifies  his 
prison.  He  is  borne  by  an  old  man  aloft  amid  the  clouds ;  thus  was  he  carried 
away  by  his  ambition.  His  ship  is  wrecked  on  the  Magnet  mountain;  his  col- 
lision with  the  emperor.  The  nails  fly  out  of  his  ship,  and  it  falls  to  pieces ;  his 
abandonment  by  his  vassals.  These  legends  are  not  unworthy  of  note,  inasmuch 
as  they  prove  the  interest  felt  by  the  people  in  the  fortunes  of  their  chiefs,  and 
in  themselves  record  the  popular  poetical  taste. 


.       THE   FRANCONIAN,  SALIC   EMPERORS  413 

peror.  Boleslaw  had  been  succeeded  on  the  throne  of  Po- 
land by  his  son,  Miseko,  who  again  refused  to  take  the  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  empire,  and,  invading  Saxony,  laid  the 
country  waste  and  carried  off  an  immense  number  of  women 
and  maidens.  The  seat  of  the  bishopric  of  Zeiz,  which  was 
most  exposed  to  the  inroads  of  the  Poles,  was,  on  that  ac- 
count, at  this  period  removed  to  Naumburg.  Conrad  in- 
vaded Poland,  vainly  besieged  Bautzen,  and  wandered 
fruitlessly  in  the  vast  unpeopled  forests,  A.D.  1029.  In  the 
following  year,  Miseko  again  invaded  the  empire  and  exer- 
cised unheard-of  cruelties  on  the  Elbe  and  Saal;  his  chief 
victims  were  the  wives  of  the  nobility  and  other  ladies  of  high 
birth,  whose  only  refuge  was  death. '  Othelrich  of  Bohemia, 
and  also  Stephan  of  Hungary,  invaded  the  empire,  but  were 
successfully  repulsed  by  Conrad,  who  also  drove  Adalbero 
out  of  Carmthia,"  and  bestowed  that  dukedom  on  his  cousin 
and  noble-minded  rival,  Conrad,  as  his  paternal  inheritance. 
The  fortress  of  Enns,  on  the  Hungarian  frontier,  was  in- 
trusted to  Graf  Ottocar,  who  erected  the  fort  of  Steyer,  in 
the  country  .hat  afterward  took  thence  the  name  of  Steyer- 
mark,  or  Styria,  A.D.  1031.  Shortly  after  these  occurrences, 
Miseko  was  deposed  by  the  Poles,  and,  seeking  protection 
from  Othelrich,  was  treacherously  seized  by  his  host  and  de- 
livered up  to  the  emperor,  who  generously  restored  him  to 
liberty,  saying,  "I  will  not  buy  an  enemy  from  an  enemy." 
The  Poles  again  accepted  him  for  their  king,  and,  won  over 
by  the  unexpected  generosity  with  which  he  had  been  treated, 

1  Matronas  religiosas  et  nobilea  armata  manu  sibi  vindicavit.  Solum  tantorum 
fuit  levamen  malorum  exoptata  mors. — Annalista  Saxo,  A.D.  1030. 

*  To  this  epoch  belongs  the  legend  of  St.  Herama,  a  relative  of  the  emperor 
Henry  II.  Her  husband,  William,  Graf  of  Friesach,  being  slain  by  Adalbero, 
she  lived  in  widowed  retirement  in  the  castled  fort  of  Purgstall  with  her  two 
sons,  William  and  Hartwig.  Her  castellan  became  enamored  of  her,  and  caused 
an  insurrection  of  the  miners  of  Zeyringen,  by  whom  her  young  sons  were  mur- 
dered at  his  instigation,  from  an  idea  that  he  should  be  able  to  get  the  mother 
by  that  means  the  more  easily  into  his  hands.  St.  Hemma  left  the  castle  secretly, 
in  a  carriage  drawn  by  oxen,  which  she  allowed  to  go  whither  they  would.  They 
stood  still,  at  length,  on  the  spot  where  she  afterward  caused  the  convent  of 
Gurk,  of  which  she  became  abbess,  to  be  erected,  A.D.  1042:  at  a  later  period, 
it  was  converted  into  a  bishopric.  The  castellan  sank,  together  with  the  castlt 
of  Purgstall,  into  a  morass. — Hoomayr'e  Taschenbuch  0/1821. 


414  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

he  concluded  a  permanent  peace  with  the  emperor,  A.D.  1084. 
Othelrich  again  rebelled,  and  was  again  reduced  to  submis- 
sion. His  son,  Brzetislaw,  carried  off  the' beautiful  Jutta,  a 
relation  of  the  emperor,  from  a  convent  at  Ratisbon,  and 
made  her  his  wife;  an  adventure  that  at  first  roused  the 
emperor's  displeasure,  but  which  afterward  produced  a  rec- 
onciliation. 

About  this  time,  Udo,  the  son  of  Mistevoi,  was  assassin- 
ated by  the  Saxons.  His  son,  Gottschalk,  who  had  been 
sent  to  a  German  monastery  for  his  education,  made  his  es- 
cape, and  placing  himself  at  the  head  of  his  people,  bloodily 
revenged  his  father's  death.  But  one  day,  when  passing 
through  the  wasted  country,  he  was  struck  with  remorse  for 
the  misery  he  had  caused,  and  voluntarily  gave  himself  up 
to  the  Saxons,  A.D.  1036.  The  emperor,  convinced  of  his 
sincerity  and  of  his  anxiety  for  the  confirmation  of  peace, 
restored  him  to  liberty ;  upon  which  he  attempted  the  con- 
version of  the  Slavi,  and  consequently  drew  down  upon  him- 
self their  bitterest  hatred.  While  these  events  were  passing, 
he  became  the  son-in-law  of  Canute  the  Great,  and  the  town 
and  fortress  of  Ratzeburg  in  western  Poland  being  yielded 
to  the  duke  of  Saxony,  he  acquired  sufficient  influence  to 
found  the  bishoprics  of  Ratzeburg  and  Mecklenburg.  The 
Liutizii,  the  head  tribe  of  the  Wilzi,  in  Pomerania,  were 
alone  refractory.  It  was  finally  agreed  between  them  and 
the  Saxons  to  leave  the  decision  of  their  quarrel  and  the 
choice  between  their  different  religions  to  the  issue  of  single 
combat.  Victory  sided  with  the  pagan  Liutizii ;  and  when 
the  Saxons,  regardless  of  the  stipulated  terms,  continued  their 
system  of  oppression,  their  opponents  cried  shame  upon  the 
God  of  the  Christians,  and  mutilated  the  figure  on  a  crucifix. 
This  sacrilegious  act  was  speedily  avenged  by  the  enraged 
emperor,  who  laid  their  country  waste  with  fire  and  sword, 
and  mutilated  the  prisoners,  but  was  unsuccessful  in  his  at- 
tempt to  penetrate  as  far  as  the  coasts  through  their  wild 
forests  and  deep  morasses. 

The  death  of  Rudolf,  A.D.  1032,  was  the  signal  for  feudal 


THE   FRANCONIAN,   SALIC    EMPERORS  415 

strife  in  Burgundy.  •  Odo,  the  French  count  of  Champagne, 
the  son  of  Gisela's  elder  sister,  set  up  a  claim  to  the  throne 
in  right  of  primogeniture,  while  Conrad  claimed  Burgundy, 
not  as  a  family  inheritance,  but  as  a  state  lapsed  to  the 
crown,  and  caused  himself  to  be  crowned  king  of  Burgundy 
at  Geneva,  A.D.  1033.  The  whole  of  the  country  lying  to 
the  south  of  Lothringia,  along  the  Saone  and  the  Rhone  as 
far  as  the  sea,  belonged  to  the  kingdom  of  Burgundy:  viz., 
the  dukedom  of  Lower  Burgundy  (Bourgogne),  with  its  cap- 
ital Tischaw  or  Dijon;  the  county  of  Upper  Burgundy 
(Franche  Comte,  free  county),  with  the  free  imperial  city 
of  Bisanz  or  Besangou;  the  county  of  "Walsh- Wien  (Vienne) 
or  the  Delphinat,  so  called  on  account  of  the  surname  of 
Delphin  borne  by  its  counts,  with  its  capital  Graswalde  or 
Grenoble ;  the  county  of  Savoy,  formerly  divided  from  Ale- 
mannia  by  the  river  Aar,  and,  at  a  later  period,  by  the 
Reuss,  when  Humbert  the  White-handed,  count  of  Savoy, 
extended  his  domains,  and  rendered  himself  almost  an  inde- 
pendent sovereign  during  the  reign  of  the  weak  Rudolf  of 
Burgundy;1  further  to  the  south,  the  county  of  Provence, 
with  its  capital  Aries,  whence  the  whole  of  Lower  Burgundy 
received  the  name  of  the  Arelat.  Besides  these  were  the 
archbishopric  of  Walsch-Leyden  (Lyons),  and  the  bishoprics 
of  Walsch- Aachen  (Aix),  Parantaise,  Valence,  Marseille, 
Avignon,  Toulon,  Chalons,  Orense,  Lausanne,  Sion,  etc.  A 

1  There  is  an  apparent  connection,  since  the  treaty  of  Verdun,  between  the 
frontiers  that  separate  Burgundy  from  Alemannia,  and  the  line  traced  by  similar- 
ity of  language.  The  Burgundians,  at  that  period,  had  adopted  the  Italian 
tongue,  while  the  Alemanni  remained  faithful  to  that  of  their  fathers.  This 
latter  line  (that  distinguished  by  similarity  of  language)  may,  at  the  present  day, 
be  traced  westward  from  Solothurn  across  the  Jura  to  the  Bieler  Lake,  to  Thiel 
and  Broy,  leaving  Miirten,  the  eastern  part  of  the  city  of  Freiburg,  Biirglen, 
G-iffers,  Passelb,  Jaun,  Sauen,  to  the  left,  touches  the  frontiers  lying  between 
Berne  and  Valais,  runs  into  the  latter  as  far  as  Siders,  keeping  the  valleys  of 
Leuk-Turtmann  and  of  Matter  to  the  left,  and  mounts  the  chain  of  the  Roth- 
horn,  that  separates  Lysthal  from  Val  di  Challant.  Eastward  of  this  line,  the 
Alemannic  and  German.tonguis  prevailed  and  are  still  in  use,  although  Savoy 
for  some  time  claimed  the  country  of  the  Alemanni  as  far  as  the  Reuss.  West- 
ward of  this  line  the  Burgundian-Italian  still  prevails,  except  in  the  villages  to 
the  south  of  Monte  Rosa,  whose  inhabitants  speak  a  peculiar  German  dialect, 
and  are,  without  doubt,  the  only  remaining  descendants  of  the  ancient  Bur- 
gundians.— Albert  Schott. 


416  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

campaign  was  carried  on  in  the  depth  of  winter  by  the  em- 
peror, and  notwithstanding,  as  Wippo  relates,  the  horses' 
hoofs  were  sometimes  frozen  into  the  ground,  he  laid  the 
whole  of  Champagne  waste. 

The  Italians,  discontented  with  the  despotic  rule  of  the 
emperor,  sought  to  strengthen  their  cause  by  an  alliance 
with  the  rebellious  Odo,  to  whom  Heribert,  archbishop  of 
Milan,  offered  the  throne  of  Lombardy.  A  second  expedi- 
tion into  Italy,  on  the  part  of  the  emperor,  was  the  immedi- 
ate result.  During  his  absence,  Odo  again  invaded  Lower 
Lothringia,  but  was  completely  routed  in  the  battle  of  Bar- 
le-Duc,  by  the  duke  Gottfried  (Gozilo),  A.D.  1036.  In  Italy, 
the  emperor  had  gained  fresh  adherents  in  the  Valvasors  or 
lower  nobility,  who  were  grievously  oppressed  by  the  spirit- 
ual and  temporal  lords,  and  rose,  sword  in  hand,  A.D.  1035, 
to  claim  the  privileges  granted  by  the  emperor  Conrad  to  the 
German  vassals  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  It  chanced  that  Heri- 
bert, archbishop  of  Milan,  the  most  tyrannical  of  the  petty 
princes  of  Italy,  who,  up  to  the  present  period,  had  been  the 
most  zealous  partisan  of  the  emperor,  counted  for  that  rea- 
son on  his  protection ;  but  Conrad,  faithful  to  his  system  of 
supporting  the  lower  nobility  against  the  great  vassals,  threw 
him,  contrary  to  his  expectation,  into  prison.  In  1037,  he 
gave  the  new  feudal  code  to  his  Italian  vassals,  by  which 
the  estates  of  the  petty  vassals  were  rendered  hereditary,  the 
alienation  of  a  fief  by  the  feudal  lord  without  the  consent  of 
the  feoffee  was  forbidden,  and  the  right  of  being  judged  by 
their  peers,  and  of  an  appeal  to  the  emperor  in  disputes  be- 
tween them  and  their  lieges,  was  secured  to  the  petty  vas- 
sals. The  concession  of  these  privileges  to  the  German  no- 
bility explains  their  adherence  to  his  cause,  particularly  hi 
the  affair  between  him  and  Duke  Ernst.  His  successors, 
nevertheless,  were  ignorant  of  the  art  of  forming  the  minor 
nobility  into  one  great  mass,  and  thiey,  consequently,  re- 
mained uninfluenced  by  any  common  bond,  under  the  rule 
of  the  great  vassals,  who  gradually  regained  the  power  over 
them  of  which  they  had  been  deprived  by  Conrad.  The  em- 


THE   FRANCONIAN,   SALIC    EMPERORS  ill 

peror  lengthened  his  stay  in  Italy,  in  order  to  confirm  his 
authority  in  that  country.  Parma  rebelled,  and  was,  by  his 
order,  almost  entirely  demolished.  His  most  active  adherent 
was  the  Markgraf  Bonifacius,  who  had  wedded  Beatrix,  the 
daughter  of  Frederich  of  Lothringia.  He  entertained  the 
emperor  sumptuously  at  Marengo  and  Vivinaja.  Wine  was 
drawn  in  buckets  attached  by  silver  chains  from  the  foun- 
tains, etc.  These  festal  scenes  were  interrupted  by  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  plague,  which  carried  off  almost  the  whole  of 
Conrad's  army.  Hermann  of  Swabia,  Conrad,  duke  of  Ca- 
rinthia,  the  emperor's  cousin,  Cunihilda,  the  bride  of  Henry, 
the  youthful  heir  to  the  crown,  were  among  the  victims, 
A.D.  1038. 

The  feuds  carried  on  between  the  Grafs  and  the  other 
great  vassals  in  Burgundy  now  called  the  emperor  into  that 
country.  Reinhold,  count  of  Franche  Comte,  who  was  at 
enmity  with  him,  was  reduced  to  submission  by  Louis,  count 
of  Miimpelgart,  the  emperor's  stanch  adherent.  The  right 
of  private  warfare  was  upheld  even  more  in  France  and  Bur- 
gundy than  in  Germany,  and  the  clergy  alone  possessed  the 
power  of  checking  the  martial  spirit  that  prevailed.  An 
abbot  of  Clugny,  at  length,  declared  himself  commissioned 
by  Heaven  to  announce  a  universal  and  holy  peace,  which 
was  to  be  kept  weekly,  from  Wednesday  evening  until  Mon- 
day morning,  and  again  from  Advent  Sunday  until  the 
eighth  day  after  Epiphany,  from  Septuagesima  until  the 
eighth  day  after  Easter,  under  pain  of  excommunication. 
During  these  intervals,  feuds  were  thus  strictly  prohibited. 
The  truth  of  this  pretended  mission  was  gladly  recognized 
by  both  the  temporal  and  spiritual  lords,  first  in  France,  A.D. 
1027,  in  Burgundy,  A.D.  1032.  and  on  two  separate  occasions, 
in  A.D.  1038  and  1041,  by  the  emperor,  by  whom  this  holy 
and  universal  peace  was  passed  into  a  law,1  the  benefit  of 


1  Conrad,  nevertheless,  unlike  his  predecessor  Henry  IT.,  was  no  slave  to 
the  church.  When  the  pope,  without  referring  to  him,  as  to  his  superior,  raised 
the  abbot  of  Reichenau  to  the  episcopal  dignity,  he  prohibited  its  acceptance, 
and  caused  the  brief  to  be  burned. 


413  THE    HISTORY    OF   GERMANY 

which  was  ere  long  felt  throughout  Germany.  Conrad  ex- 
pired at  Utrecht,  A.D.  1039,  during  the  solemnization  of  the 
Whitsuntide  festival.  He  was  interred  at  Spires,  where,  A.  D. 
1030,  he  had  laid  the  foundation-stone  of  the  cathedral.  His 
son  and  successor,  Henry,  accompanied  the  funeral  proces- 
sion, and,  while  passing  through  the  town,  assisted  in  bear- 
ing the  coffin. 

CXL.    Henry  the  Third 

EDUCATED  by  a  father  as  intelligent  as  he  was  energetic 
and  warlike,  and  by  a  mother  whose  noble  intellect  had  been 
strengthened  by  misfortune,  Henry  early  developed  the  qual- 
ities befitting  a  statesman  and  a  soldier.  The  popes  even 
were  awed,  and  the  power  of  the  dukes  completely  reduced, 
by  this  emperor,  whose  iron  despotism  surpassed  that  of  any 
of  his  predecessors.  *  Had  his  life  been  lengthened,  the  ducal 
dignity,  so  greatly  had  he  succeeded  in  depressing  it,  would 
probably  have  been  entirely  abolished.  , 

He  allowed  the  ducal  throne  of  Swabia  to  remain  for 
some  time  unoccupied,  and  finally  bestowed  it  on  Otto, 
Markgraf  of  Schweinf  urt,  in  Eastern  Franconia,  a  man  of  an 
inert  disposition.  The  nomination  of  Welf,  the  son  of  Welf 
the  elder,  to  the  dukedom  of  Carinthia,  cojiciliated  the  feudal 
animosity  of  that  house.  Welf  died,  A.D.  1055,  without  issue, 
and  his  family  was  continued,  in  default  of  heir  male,  by 
Welf,  the  son  of  his  sister  Cunigunda,  who  had  espoused 
Azzo,  an  Italian  Markgraf.  The  crown  of  Bavaria  was  pre- 
sented by  Henry  to  his  wife,  the  empress  Agnes.  At  that 
time  Graf,  Berthold,  a  nephew  of  Radbot  of  Habsburg,  dis- 
tinguishing himself  in  the  Breisgau,  Henry  promised  him 
the  reversion  of  the  ducal  crown  of  Swabia  on  the  death  of 
Otto.  Bernhard  of  Saxony,  although  the  only  one  who 
maintained  his  ancient  independence,  made  himself  re- 
spected by  the  emperor,  who  sought  to  diminish  his  power 

1  "Omnia  Caesar  erat,"  was  the  graphic  expression  of  Godellus,  the  monkish 
historian  of  Limoges. 


THE   FRANCON1AN,   SALIC   EMPERORS  419 

by  creating  a  counterpoise  to  him  in  the  neighboring  states, 
and  accordingly  made  Thuringia  independent,  and  nomi- 
nated Louis  the  Bearded  as  her  Landgraf.  He  also  sup- 
ported Adalbert,  the  talented  archbishop  of  Bremen,  who 
had  twelve  bishoprics  under  his  jurisdiction,  and,  during  his 
residence  in  Germany,  always  fixed  his  seat  of  government 
at  Goslar,  in  the  heart  of  Saxony,  in  order  to  keep  that  duke- 
dom under  his  own  eye.  He  also  humbled  the  haughty  and 
dreaded  archbishop  of  Mayence,  by  giving  precedence  to  the 
archbishop  of  Cologne,  when  solemnizing  the  coronation  of 
his  youthful  heir. 

The  Bohemians  were  the  first  to  rise  in  open  warfare. 
Brzetislaw  again  attempted  to  regain  his  independence,  in 
which  he  was  supported  by  Severus,  bishop  of  Prague. 
After  a  struggle  that  lasted  for  two  years,  he  was  finally 
reduced  to  submission,  A.D.  1042,  and  compelled  to  swear 
fealty  to  the  emperor  on  his  bended  knees  at  Ratisbon.  His 
son  Spignitew,  on  mounting  the  throne,  immediately  ex- 
pelled all  the  Germans,  even  his  own  mother,  Jutta,  from 
Bohemia. 

In  the  following  year,  the  discontented  Burgundians  rose 
in  open  insurrection,  but  were  again  subdued  by  Henry,  who, 
by  his  marriage  with  Agnes  of  Poitou,  A.D.  1044,  who  was 
closely  connected  with  the  most  powerful  of  the  Burgundian 
families,  at  once  settled  all  differences. 

This  was  followed  by  disturbances  in  Hungary.  Stephan 
the  Holy  having  died  without  issue,  Gisela,  his  German 
queen,  placed  his  nephew,  Peter,  on  the  throne.  The  crimes 
of  this  monarch,  and  the  favor  in  which  the  Germans  were 
held  at  court,  gave  rise  to  a  popular  tumult.  Peter  was  de- 
posed, and  Aba  was  elected  king  in  his  stead.  A  battle  took 
place  between  him  and  the  emperor  at  Menfew,  A.D.  1044. 
The  Germans  had  already  been  put  to  flight,  when  a  storm 
of  wind  suddenly  arose,  and  whirling  the  sand  of  the  plain 
into  the  faces  of  the  pursuing  Hungarians,  caused  such  con- 
fusion that  the  Germans  rallied  and  gained  the  victory. 
Peter  was  replaced  upon  his  throne  at  Stuhlweissenburg, 


420  THE  HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

and  Aba  was  assassinated.  The  Hungarians  again  revolted 
on  Henry's  departure,  deprived  Peter  of  sight,  and  raised 
Andreas  to  the  throne.  This  induced  a  second  expedition 
into  Hungary  on  the  part  of  the  emperor,  whose  army  was 
surrounded,  when  in  a  dangerous  position,  by  the  enemy, 
and,  after  suffering  dreadfully  from  famine,  was  finally  en- 
abled, by  the  dexterity  of  his  maneuvers,  to  retreat  across  the 
frontier,  with  the  loss  of  all  the  sick,  whom  he  was  compelled 
to  abandon,  and  who  were  cut  to  pieces  by  the  enraged  peas- 
antry. He  returned,  A.D.  1051,  at  the  head  of  a  more  nu- 
merous army,  and  although  he  recognized  Andreas  as  king 
of  Hungary,  compelled  him  to  do  him  homage,  and  to  accept 
the  Bavarian  constitution,  by  which  Hungary  was,  as  at  the 
present  day,  divided  into  comitate  or  counties.  The  coun- 
try between  the  Calenberg  on  the  Danube,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Vienna,  and  the  Leitha,  was  also  permanently  severed  from 
Hungary,  and  united  to  the  mere  of  Austria. 

The  greatest  confusion,  caused,  on  the  present  occasion, 
by  a  schism  or  disunion  of  the  church  under  several  contem- 
porary popes,  reigned,  meanwhile,  in  Italy.  Benedict  IX., 
who  had  given  way  to  the  most  unbridled  license,  was  op- 
posed by  an  anti-pope,  Sylvester  VII.  Benedict,  becoming 
enamored  of  a  beautiful  girl  of  high  birth,  abdicated  the 
pontifical  chair,  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  her  in  marriage, 
but,  being  disappointed  in  his  purpose,  retook  his  dignity 
and  remained  pope,  although  he  had  sold  his  right  to  the 
triple  crown  to  a  third  pope,  Gregory  VI.  These  three  heads 
of  the  church  reigned  simultaneously  in  Rome;  Benedict  in 
the  Lateran,  Gregory  in  the  Vatican,  and  Sylvester  in  St. 
Maria  Maggiore.  In  order  to  terminate  this  scandal,  the 
emperor  visited  Rome,  A.D.  1046,  and  held  a  great  ecclesi- 
astical convocation  at  Sutri,  by  which  he  caused  the  three 
popes  to  be  deposed,  and  a  German,  Suidger  of  Meyendorf, 
bishop  of  Bamberg,  to  be  placed  in  the  pontifical  chair,  under 
the  name  of  Clement  II.  All  the  imperial  prerogatives,  by 
the  exercise  of  this  right  of  election  on  the  part  of  the  em- 
peror, received  fresh  confirmation.  Henry  afterward  visited 


THE  FRANCONIAN,  SALIC   EMPERORS  421 

Apulia,  and  extended  the  Norman  fief,  held  by  the  twelve 
brave  sons  of  Tancred,  one  of  whom,  named  Drogo,  who, 
A.D.  1039,  had  defeated  a  numerous  body  of  Grecian  troops, 
he  created  duke  of  Apulia.  The  revolt  of  the  Lombards 
against  the  new  rulers  of  Lower  Italy  was  the  immediate 
result,  and  Drogo  was  murdered.  His  brothers,  Hunifrid 
and  Guiscard,  nevertheless,  maintained  their  authority  in 
Apulia,  and  Raimund,  a  descendant  of  the  earlier  Norman 
settlers,  was  equally  successful  in  Aversa. 

Henry  returned  to  Germany  with  the  three  popes  in  hig 
train.  Their  German  successor,  Clement  II.,  died  A.D. 
1049,  probably  from  poison,  and  another  German,  Poppo, 
bishop  of  Brixen,  who  was  sent  by  the  emperor  to  replace 
him  as  Pope  Damasus  II.,  did  not  survive  his  elevation  to 
the  pontifical  chair  three  weeks.  The  emperor  next  elected 
one  of  his  own  relatives,  Bruno  of  Dachsburg,  bishop  of 
Tull,  as  his  successor,  who,  under  the  name  of  Leo  IX., 
distinguished  himself  by  the  force  of  his  intellect,  and  by 
his  comprehensive  plans  for  the  reformation  of  the  church, 
in  which  he  was  zealously  aided  by  a  young  man  named 
Hildebrand,  the  son  of  a  blacksmith  of  Siena,  who  had  ac- 
companied Gregory  VI.  to  Germany,  and  whom  the  new 
pope,  attracted  by  his  high  talents,  had  taken  into  his  ser- 
vice. It  has  been  asserted  that  Leo  was  merely  a  tool  in 
the  hands  of  this  monk ;  this  could  not  be :  the  actions  of 
Leo  originated  in  himself,  and  instead  of  owing  his  fame 
to  Hildebrand,  the  contrary  was  the  fact — it  was  he  who 
first  raised  Hildebrand  from  obscurity.  The  principal  evil 
in  the  church,  besides  the  irregular  election  of  the  popes  in 
Rome  herself,  was  the  simony '  carried  on  throughout  the 
provinces.  Each  ecclesiastical  dignity,  from  the  highest  to 
the  lowest,  had  its  price,  and,  consequently,  fell  into  the 
most  unworthy  hands;  bribery  and  corruption  everywhere 
prevailed.  In  order  to  put  a  stop  to  these  evils,  Leo,  besides 
rendering  them  liable  by  law  to  the  severest  punishments, 

1  Simony,  or  the  purchase  of  ecclesiastical  benefices ;  so  named  in  reference 
to  Simon  the  magician,  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  viii. 


i22  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

visited  the  different  countries  for  the  purpose  of  strictly  and 
personally  investigating  the  conduct  of  the  clergy.  The 
awestruck  French  clergy  yielded  implicitly  to  his  commands 
at  a  council  convoked  by  him  at  Rheims.  He  met  alone 
with  opposition  from  his  own  countrymen  at  another  held 
by  him  at  Mayence ;  and  a  year  later,  when  he  again  hast- 
ened northward,  in  order  to  promote  peace  between  the 
Hungarians,  who  had  already  embraced  Christianity,  and 
the  Germans,  he  was  mocked  in  the  German  camp.  "Was 
the  emperor  jealous  of  the  interference  of  a  pope  on  whose 
head  he  had  himself  placed  the  tiara?  Heavily  was  Ger- 
many destined  to  atone  for  her  disrespect  toward  a  German 
pope!  Not  long  after  this  Leo  fell  at  variance  with  Robert 
Guiscard,  on  account  of  his  having  laid  the  papal  dominions 
waste;  seven  hundred  Swabians,  the  pope's  body-guard,  were 
slain  at  Civetella,  and  the  pope  quitted  the  burning  city  and 
gave  himself  up  to  the  Normans,  who  fell  weeping  at  his 
feet,  A.D.  1053.  This  excellent  pope  expired  in  the  follow- 
ing year.  He  was  canonized  by  the  church,  and  became 
the  guardian  saint  of  the  city  of  Benevento.  On  his  de- 
mise, Hildebrand  hastened  to  Germany,  in  order  to  entreat 
the  emperor  to  elect  a  successor.  His  choice  fell  upon  Geb- 
hard,  Graf  of  Calw,  bishop  of  Eichstadt,  Pope  Victor  II,, 
who,  at  a  council  held  at  Florence,  promised  the  world  that 
he  would  continue  the  reform  commenced  by  Leo. 

A  petty  war  for  the  succession  to  the  dukedom  had,  in 
the  meantime,  broken  out  in  Lothringia.  Dietrich,  the  son 
of  Frederich,  duke  of  Upper  LolLiringia,  died  without  issue, 
A.D.  1043.  The  succession  was  claimed  by  Gottfried  the 
Bearded,  duke  of  Lower  Lothringia,  who,  on  the  donation 
of  the  dukedom  by  the  emperor  to  Adalbert,  an  Alsatian 
count,  took  up  arms  against  him  and  slew  him  in  battle. 
Gerhard,  Adalbert's  nephew,  was  upon  this  appointed  to 
succeed  him  by  the  emperor,  who  defeated  the  contuma- 
cious duke,  but,  struck  with  admiration  of  the  valor  with 
which  he  had  defended  himself,  pardoned  his  aggression, 
and  sent  him  to  Italy,  to  watch  over  his  interests  in  that 


THE  FRANCONIAN,  SALIC    EMPERORS  423 

country.  Gottfried's  allies,  Baldwin  Y.  of  Flanders,  and 
Dietrich  IV.  of  Holland,  who  were  necessarily  sacrificed  by 
this  arrangement,  contrived  to  make  head  against  the  em- 
peror during  the  summer  months  behind  their  morasses,  but 
were  speedily  reduced  to  submission  on  the  setting  in  of  win- 
ter, A.D.  1048,  when  the  rivers  and  canals  were  frozen  over. 
Baldwin,  notwithstanding  his  having  burned  down  the  im- 
perial town  of  Nimwegen,1  was  freely  pardoned,  and  per- 
mitted to  hold  Ghent,  the  Ottogau,  CElsterland,  Allost, 
"Wars,  and  Southern  Seeland,  in  fee  of  the  empire.  This 
country  was  henceforth  distinguished  as  Imperial  Flan- 
ders from  the  rest  of  Flanders,  which  was  a  French  fief. 
The  emperor  hoped,  by  this  clemency,  to  attach  these  pow- 
erful frontier  Grafs  to  the  empire,  and  to  increase  the  dis- 
taste felt  by  the  German  Flemings  toward  their  foreign 
rulers.  His  system  was  unfortunately  unheeded  by  his 
successors  on  the  imperial  throne,  by  whom  the  Flemings 
were  rarely  supported  against  France.  Dietrich  of  Hol- 
land fell,  A.D.  1049,  in  a  senseless  and  sanguinary  feud 
with  Cologne,"  which  proved  equally  fatal  to  Florens  L, 
his  brother  and  successor.  It  is  remarkable  to  what  an 
early  date  the  disunion  in  the  German  Netherlands  may 
be  traced. 

Gottfried  of  Lower  Lothringia,  unmindful  of  the  clem- 
ency with  which  he  had  been  treated,  proved  faithless  to 
his  trust  in  Italy,  where  he  joined  the  malcontents,  and 
after  wedding  Beatrix,  the  widow  of  Bonifacius,  made  use 
of  the  influence  and  wealth  bestowed  upon  her  family  by 
the  emperor  against  their  common  benefactor.  Henry, 

1  Dietrich,  Graf  of  Cleve,  surnamed  the  Flyer  on  account  of  his  extraordinary 
activity,  on  one  occasion  saved  the  emperor's  life  during  this  feud,  and  received 
in  recompense  the  city  and  revenue  of  Nirawegen,  on  condition  of  paying  an 
annual  tribute  of  three  pieces  of  scarlet  cloth,  each  fifty  ells  in  length,  to  the 
emperor.     This  tribute  being  discontinued  by  his  successors,  Frederich  Barba- 
rossa  deprived  them  of  both  the  city  and  its  revenue. — Knapp's  History  of  Cleve. 

2  This  feud  was  occasioned  by  the  death  of  a  brother  of  the  archbishop  of 
Cologne,  who  was  slain  by  Dietrich  at  a  tournament.     He  also  cut  to  pieces 
four  hundred  of  the  Cologne  nobility  and  their  allies  at  Dordrecht,  where  he  was 
himself  slain  by  a  poisoned  arrow.     Florens  was  murdered  in  his  sleep  during  a 
night  attack. 


424  THE    HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

consequently,  recrossed  the  Alps,  and  after  defeating  the 
refractory  duke,  and  taking  Beatrix  prisoner,  returned 
with  her  to  Germany,  where  his  presence  was  again  re- 
quired by  the  renewed  pretensions  of  Henry,  king  of  France, 
upon  Burgundy  and  Lothringia.  His  departure  was  in- 
stantly turned  to  advantage  by  Gottfried,  and  his  son, 
Gottfried  the  younger,  who  regained  their  influence  in 
Italy.  During  an  interview  between  Henry  and  the  French 
monarch  at  Ivois,  A.D.  1056,  the  former  threw  down  his 
glove  in  token  of  challenge :  it  was  refused  by  the  French 
king,  who  took  refuge  within  his  own  dominions. 

Another  and  more  dangerous  enemy  now  attacked  the  em- 
pire. The  Liutizii,  notwithstanding  the  valiant  defense  made 
against  them  by  Bernhard  of  Saxony,  William  of  Branden- 
burg, son  of  the  elder  Bernhard,  and  Gottschalk,  the  Chris- 
tian prince  of  the  Obotrites,  succeeded  in  gaining  the  upper 
hand.  William  fell  in  a  battle  near  Prizlawa.  All  the  Chris- 
tians taken  prisoners  on  this  occasion  being  drowned,  the 
Saxon  princes,  in  reprisal,  compelled  their  Slavian  prison- 
ers to  throw  themselves  into  the  river. ' 

During  the  same  year,  Germany  was  visited  by  earth- 
quakes, plague,  and  famine,  the  forerunners  of  a  still  worse 
evil,  the  death  of  the  emperor,  who  fell  sick  and  expired  at 
Bothfeld,  in  the  Harz  Mountains,  in  the  vigor  of  life,  A..D. 
1056.  He  left  the  empire  in  the  hands  of  the  empress  Agnes, 
and  of  his  son  Henry,  a  child  five  years  of  age.  Thus  the 
management  of  affairs  that  demanded  the  utmost  energy 
and  sagacity  devolved  upon  a  woman  and  an  infant. 

A  number  of  monks,  who  devoted  their  lives  and  talents 
more  to  the  promotion  of  learning  and  to  the  welfare  of  the 
state,  than  to  upholding  the  hierarchical  schemes  of  the  pope, 
had  been  invited  over  by  Henry  from  the  British  Isles,  and 
had  founded  numerous  Scotch  monasteries."  Agnes,  Henry's 

1  Alle  de  se  venghen,  mosten  sich  sulven  drenken. — Old  Saxon  Chronicle. 

2  The  miracle  performed  by  one  of  these  Scottish  saints  is  characteristic  of 
the  reaction  produced  by  the  contrast  of  their  temperance  and  sobriety  with  the 
luxurious  habits  of  the  Roman  clergy.     Marguard,  the  first  abbot  of  the  Scotch 
monastery  at  "Wurzburg,  is  said  to  have  changed  the  wine  of  the  carousing  clergy 
into  water. 


THE  FRANCONIAN,  SALIC    EMPERORS  425 

learned  empress,  and  his  chancellor  and  historian  "Wippo, 
also  greatly  assisted  him  in  carrying  his  plans  for  the  ref- 
ormation of  the  Romish  priesthood  into  effect.  Agnes  was 
regent  of  the  empire  during  her  son's  minority.  She  was 
a  virtuous,  pious  woman,  with  a  mind  highly  cultivated  in- 
deed, but  totally  deficient  in  the  energy  befitting  her  station, 
the  possession  of  which  would  have  rendered  her  the  heroine, 
instead  of  the  victim,  of  her  tunes.  Gentleness,  love,  persua- 
sion, and  the  most  disinterested  sacrifice  of  herself,  were  the 
means  by  which  she  sought  to  rule  the  wild  and  daring  spirits 
of  the  age.  Well  aware  of  the  impossibility  of  bearing  des- 
potic sway,  like  her  deceased  husband,  over  the  distant  and 
extensive  provinces  of  the  empire,  without  the  intermediate 
aid  of  dukes,  and,  moreover,  anxious  to  convert  the  enmity 
of  those  whose  pretensions  had  been  neglected  into  friend- 
ship, she  raised  one  after  the  other,  the  bitterest  enemies  of 
her  family,  to  the  vacant  ducal  thrones.  Another  aim  of 
her  short-sighted  policy  was  by  means  of  the  dukes  to  keep 
the  haughty  archbishops  in  check.  Eudolf,  the  insolent 
Graf  of  Rheinfelden,  by  whom  her  daughter  Matilda  had 
been  violated,  received  not  only  pardon  for  his  crime,  but 
also  Swabia  and  Burgundy  in  fee  of  the  empire.  The  tur- 
bulent Swabian  nobles,  ever  at  feud  with  one  another,  re- 
quired a  master.  A  Graf  of  Hohenzollern  is  -at  this  period, 
A.D.  1058,  for  the  first  time  mentioned  in  history  as  an  actor 
in  one  of  these  feuds.  In  order  to  satisfy  the  just  preten- 
sions of  Graf  Berthold,  Agnes  bestowed  upon  him  the  duke- 
dom of  Carinthia,  and  the  county  of  Verona  in  Italy,  A.D. 
1060;  besides  which  he  possessed  the  Breisgau.  His  de- 
scendants received  the  surname  of  the  Zahringer,1  from 

1  The  legendary  origin  of  the  Zahringer  is  thus  related  in  the  ancient  Frei- 
burgian  Chronicle.  Their  ancestor  was  a  charcoal  burner  in  the  Black  Forest, 
who,  discovering  by  chance  some  silver  in  the  earth  with  which  he  covered  the 
smoldering  wood,  gradually  collected  an  immense  treasure.  An  emperor  who 
had  taken  refuge  on  the  Kaiserstuhl  mountain  in  the  Breisgau,  fell  into  great 
distress,  and  promising  to  bestow  his  daughter's  hand  on  the  person  who  would 
come  to  his  aid,  the  charcoal  burner  laid  his  ponderous  riches  at  his  feet,  wedded 
the  princess,  was  created  duke,  and  built  the  castle  of  Zahringen  and  the  city  of 
Freiburg.  Maddened  by  prosperity,  he  longed  for  human  flesh,  and  caused  a 


426  THE   HISTORY   OF    GERMANY 

Zehring,  a  province  above  Judenburg.  She  also  bestowed 
Bavaria  on  Otto,  the  brave  Graf  of  Nordheim,  and  restored 
Lothringia  to  the  son  of  her  hereditary  enemy  Gottfried, 
Gottfried  the  Hunchback,  a  noble-minded  man,  who  was 
afterward  almost  the  only  one  who  served  the  Salic  family 
with  fidelity.  Besides  Lothringia,  he  also  possessed  the  ex- 
tensive Tuscan  margraviate  in  right  of  his  wife  Matilda,  the 
daughter  of  his  own  stepmother  Beatrix. 

The  Frieslanders  again  figure  in  history  during  this 
period.  Bernhard  of  Saxony,  and  Adalbert,  archbishop 
of  Bremen,  enraged  at  the  insubordination  of  these  brave 
peasants,  who  resisted  their  attempted  imposition  of  a  tax, 
marched  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  army  into  their  coun- 
try, but  were  completely  put  to  the  rout,  and  the  camp  of 
the  nobles  was  sacked  by  the  victors,  A.D.  1060.  Henry,  the 
pious  bishop  of  Augsburg,  and  Guibert,  the  talented  arch- 
bishop of  Ravenna,  were  the  empress's  counselors.  The 
mildness  of  her  government,  however,  did  not  shield  her 
character  from  the  imputations  which  the  opponents  to  the 
imperial  throne  cast  upon  her  and  her  counselors  in  order 
to  hasten  their  downfall. 

CXLI.  Ecclesiastical  Government  of  the  Empire 

VICTOR  II.  died  A.D.  1057,  and  the  Italians  placed  the 
tiara  on  the  head  of  Stephen  IX.,  the  brother  of  Gottfried 
the  Hunchback,  who  also  expired  in  the  following  year. 
Their  choice  next  fell  upon  Benedict  X.  This  election 
caused  deep  displeasure  to  Hildebrand,  who  still  continued 
his  endeavors  to  raise  the  church  to  her  former  level  by 
means  of  the  empire.  He  therefore  earnestly  petitioned  the 
"empress  to  nominate  another  pope,  and  Gerhard  of  Bur- 
gundy, bishop  of  Florence,  was  accordingly  sent  by  her  to 
fill  the  pontifical  chair. 

This  pope  entered  into  Hildebrand 's  views  for  the  ag- 

'boy  to  be  killed  and  roasted.  While  feasting  on  this  unnatural  food,  he  was 
seized  with  remorse,  and,  in  atonement  for  his  crime,  erected  the  monasteries 
of  St.  Ruprecht,  and  of  St.  Peter  in  the  Black  Forest 


THE   FRANCONIAN,  SALIC   EMPERORS  427 

grandizement  of  the  church.  The  time  had  arrived  for  the 
popedom  to  rise  again  from  her  impotent  obscurity,  and  for 
the  realization  of  the  gigantic  idea  of  universal  ecclesiastical 
rule ;  so  intense  was  the  devotional  feeling  of  the  times  that 
the  church  merely  required  an  energetic  head,  and  the  em- 
pire a  weak  ruler,  for  the  temporal  power  of  the  latter  to 
pass  into  the  hands  of  the  former.  This  head  appeared  in 
the  person  of  the  monk  Hildebrand,  at  a  time  when  the  im- 
perial scepter  was  swayed  by  a  child.  The  character  and 
virtues  of  Hildebrand  fitted  him  for  the  hero  of  the  church 
and  of  his  age.  His  irreproachable  life  and  morals,  his  en- 
tire renunciation  of  all  worldly  pleasures,  rendered  him  uni- 
versally venerated.  His  mind,  formed  in  monastic  seclusion, 
was  firm  and  strong,  and,  inspired  by  his  deep  devotional 
feelings,  he  cherished  a  lofty  view  of  the  destinies  of  the 
world.  Early  recommended  to  the  notice  of  the  great  and 
powerful  by  the  superiority  of  his  talents,  he  was  an  adept 
in  transacting  worldly  affairs,  had  been  actively  engaged  in 
promoting  the  interests  of  the  church,  and,  during  his  resi- 
dence in  Germany,  had  taken  a  just  and  comprehensive 
view  of  the  state  of  Christendom.  Worldly  knowledge, 
pliability,  and  even  dissimulation — unholy  means  for  the 
attainment  of  a  design,  the  offspring  of  a  pure  and  lofty 
mind — were  his  chief  characteristics,  in  common  with  the 
rest  of  his  countrymen.  His  surpassing  eloquence,  another 
of  his  numerous  gifts,  did  not  equal  in  effect  the  indomitable 
sternness  which  empowered  him  singly  to  enter  the  lists 
against  the  whole  world.  Even  during  his  lifetime,  his 
numerous  enemies,  created  as  much  by  the  earnestness  of 
his  zealous  endeavors  as  by  the  harshness  with  which  cir- 
cumstances often  compelled  him  to  act,  attempted  to  lower 
his  fame ;  and  in  later  times,  the  despotic  rule  usurped  by  a 
church  whose  power  was  due  to  him  has  caused  him  to  be 
reproached  as  the  originator  of  crimes  which,  in  the  purity 
of  his  zeal  for  the  reformation  of  the  church,  and  through 
her  of  the  reformation  and  improvement  of  the  universe,  he 
could  not  have  foreseen. 


428  THE   HISTORY    OF    GERMANY 

His  great  work  commenced  under  Nicolas  II.,  whose  aj> 
probation  was  the  more  readily  secured,  on  account  of  its 
having  originated  with  the  German  popes,  and  on  account 
of  the  necessity  of  preserving  peace  and  order,  the  continua- 
tion of  which  was  at  this  period  endangered  by  the  minority 
of  the  emperor.  Two  men,  his  steady  coadjutors,  Petrus 
Damiani,  whose  religious  zeal  and  strict  morality  rendered 
hun  the  idol  of  monks  and  devotees,  and  Lanfrauc,  the  cele- 
brated theologian,  his  equal  in  learning,  must  also  not  re- 
main unnoticed. 

Two  important  acts  passed  by  a  council  at  Rome,  A.D. 
1059,  were  the  first-fruits  of  Hildebrand's  long-planned  en- 
deavors. By  the  former,  the  election  of  the  pope  was  de- 
clared for  the  future  to  be  independent  of  the  emperor,  and 
to  be  solely  dependent  on  the  votes  of  the  cardinals,  or  eccle- 
siastics of  the  highest  rank,  whose  dignity  arose  from  the 
number  of  chapters  or  canonships  attached  to  their  sees. 
By  the  latter,  the  pope  was  declared,  like  the  emperor,  lord 
paramount  over  the  feudatories  in  his  dominions,  and  the 
Normans  were  accordingly  solemnly  declared  feudatories  of 
the  pontifical  chair,  and  freed  from  their  allegiance  to  the 
emperor.  The  independent  spirit  of  Robert  Guiscard  of 
Apulia,  and  of  his  brother  Roger  of  Sicily,  caused  them 
willingly  to  league  with  the  pope  in  freeing  themselves 
from  the  shackles  imposed  upon  them  by  the  emperor. 
The  Greeks,  Arabs,  and  Lombards  in  Lower  Italy  were 
also  at  that  period  reduced  by  them  to  submission.  It  is 
worthy  of  remark  that  Nicolas  carefully  avoided  any  inter- 
ference with  heretics,  in  order  not  to  be  hindered  in  his 
more  important  operations  for  the  aggrandizement  of  the 
church.  Berengar,  a  canon  of  Tours,  although  compelled 
to  abjure  his  heretical  doctrine  against  transubstantiation, 
that  is,  against  the  belief  that  the  wine  and  bread  made 
use  of  in  the  sacrament  was  the  real  body  and  blood  of 
Christ,  was  treated  with  great  lenity. 

Nicolas  II.  died  A.D.  1061.  The  election  of  Alexander 
II.  by  the  cardinals  roused  Agnes  to  a  sense  of  her  infringed 


THE    FRANCONIAN,   SALIC    EMPERORS  429 

dignity,  and  declaring  the  election  null  and  void  without 
her  consent,  she  caused  Honorius  II.  to  be  elected  pope  by 
the  German  bishops  at  Basle. 

One  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  that  period  was 
Anno,  archbishop  of  Cologne  (a  Graf  of  Pfullingen),  a  man 
of  an  ambitious  mind  and  stern  temper,  more  fitted  to  bear 
the  scepter  or  the  sword  than  the  crosier.  The  precedence 
given  to  him  by  Henry  III.  over  the  haughty  archbishop  of 
Mayence  had  only  served  to  inflame  his  ambition,  and,  in- 
satiated  by  the  power  he  possessed,  he  even  grasped  at  the 
regency  of  the  empire.  He  has  for  that  reason  been  unjustly 
accused  of  attempting  to  separate  the  German  church  from 
that  of  Rome;  the  accordance  of  his  views  with  those  of 
Hildebrand  clearly  demonstrate  the  contrary.  It  is  true 
that  he  filled  several  important  bishoprics  with  his  adher- 
ents. His  brother  Wezilo  (Werner)  was  created  archbishop 
of  Magdeburg;  his  grandson  Cuiio  (Conrad),  archbishop  of 
Treves,  and  his  other  grandson,  Bucco  (Burkhard),  bishop 
of  Halberstadt.  The  adherence  of  these  prelates,  however, 
merely  contributed  to  his  temporal  power.  His  principal  ob- 
ject, the  only  one  worthy  of  his  powers,  but  for  the  attain- 
ment of  which  he  had  recourse  to  ignoble  and  barbarous 
means,  was  to  snatch  the  helm  from  the  powerless  hand  of 
the  weak  woman  who  guided  the  state.  The  life  of  the 
youthful  emperor  had  been  already  attempted.  Otto,  the 
brother  of  William  of  Brandenburg,  had  been  passed  over 
in  the  succession,  and  Udo,  Graf  of  Stade,  had  been  created 
Markgraf  in  his  stead.  An  insurrection  ensued.  Numbers 
of  the  Saxons,  to  whom  Henry  III.  had  made  himself  ob- 
noxious, entered  into  a  conspiracy  with  Otto,  whom  they 
intended  to  raise  to  the  throne,  against  the  emperor's  life. 
A  duel  that  took  place  between  Otto  and  Ekbert,  Graf  of 
Brunswick,  a  zealous  partisan  of  the  imperial  family,  in 
which  both  combatants  fell,  crushed  the  hopes  of  the  Saxon 
conspirators,  A.D.  1057.  Anno  pursued  a  safer  and  more 
certain  plan.  He  hated  Agnes  and  the  bishop  of  Augsburg, 
and  viewed  her  government  with  contempt.  His  project  of 


430  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

ruling  the  empire  in  the  name  of  the  youthful  monarch  was 
shared  by  Otto  of  Nordheim,  the  greatest  general,  and  by 
Ekbert,  Markgraf  of  Meissen,  the  most  valiant  knight  of  the 
age,  who  were  moreover  by  their  Saxon  blood  the  hereditary 
foes  of  the  reigning  dynasty.  These  three  men  formed  a 
plot  to  gain  possession  of  the  person  of  the  emperor.  The 
empress  and  her  son  were  invited  by  them  to  pass  the  Eas- 
ter festival  at  Kaiserswerth,  A.D.  1062.  After  the  banquet, 
under  pretense  of  showing  the  child  a  fine  boat,  he  was 
taken  to  the  Rhine,  put  on  board  a  vessel,  and  taken  away. 
The  courageous  boy  no  sooner  perceived  the  intention  of  his 
conductors  to  separate  him  from  his  mother  than  he  sprang 
into  the  water,  but  was  instantly  followed  by  Ekbert,  who 
overtook  and  bore  him  back  to  the  vessel.  The  entreaties 
of  the  unfortunate  empress  for  the  restoration  of  her  child 
were  unheeded  by  the  treacherous  vassals,  who,  although 
pursued  for  some  distance  on  both  sides  of  the  river  by  the 
country  people,  succeeded  in  reaching  Cologne  with  their 
prisoner.  The  broken-hearted  mother  resigned  the  regency 
and  retired  to  an  Italian  convent.  Her  counselor,  Henry, 
bishop  of  Augsburg,  was  tortured  to  death. ' 

In  order  to  place  his  undertaking  under  more  favorable 
colors,  Anno  caused  a  decree  to  be  passed  by  the  assembled 
vassals  of  the  empire,  empowering  the  bishop  within  whose 
diocese  the  young  emperor  resided  to  act  as  regent  of  the 
state ;  a  title  he  instantly  assumed  on  account  of  the  enforced 
residence  of  his  prisoner  at  Cologne.  He  caused  him  to  be 
strictly  educated,  compelling  him  to  learn  Latin  like  a  chor- 
ister, and  to  undergo  the  severest  discipline. 

The  dispute  between  Honorius  II.  and  Alexander  II.  called 
Anno,  as  regent  of  the  empire,  into  Italy ;  in  this  character 
he,  at  first,  strongly  opposed  Hildebrand,  but  the  interests 
of  the  church  ere  long  reconciled  their  differences;  Anno 
also  rejected  the  pope  nominated  by  the  empress,  lent  his 
countenance  to  the  one  elected  by  the  cardinals,  and  Alex- 
ander retained  the  tiara. 

1  Coleis  ligneo  palo  pertusis. 


THE   FRANCONIAN,  SALIC   EMPERORS  431 

During  the  absence  of  Anno,  Henry  had  fallen  into  other 
hands,  and  the  ambitious  primate  of  Cologne,  at  a  later  peri- 
od, merely  guided  the  affairs  of  state  at  two  short  and  differ- 
ent times.  The  city  of  Cologne,  meanwhile,  fully  occupied 
his  attention.  In  1063,  or,  according  to  other  accounts,  later, 
a  violent  feud  sprang  up  between  him  and  the  merchants, 
affording  an  example  of  the  struggle  between  rival  interests, 
which  speedily  broke  out  in  several  other  episcopal  cities. 
An  no's  servants  insolently  took  possession  of  a  merchantman 
that  lay  close  inshore,  heavily  laden,  and  after  lightening  it 
of  its  cargo,  laid  an  embargo  upon  it  as  a  pleasure-boat  for 
the  archbishop.  The  son  of  the  merchant  to  whom  the  ves- 
sel belonged  hastened  with  his  men  to  the  spot,  and  com- 
pelled the  archbishop's  servants  to  retire.  Anno  ordered 
peace  to  be  preserved,  but  harshly  refused  to  pass  judgment 
on  the  offenders;  the  people  of  Cologne,  well  aware  of  his 
despotic  temper,  resolved  to  oppose  violence  by  violence,  and 
rising  en  masse,  stormed  the  episcopal  palace,  which  they 
utterly  destroyed,  and  laid  siege  to  the  church  of  St.  Peter, 
within  whose  walls  the  archbishop  had  taken  refuge.  Anno 
escaped  by  night,  assembled  a  numerous  army,  and  shortly 
appeared  before  the  gates  of  Cologne.  The  citizens,  already 
struck  with  remorse  for  their  daring,  and  unable  to  contend 
on  equal  terms  with  their  old  master,  now  sued  for  mercy, 
and  Anno,  who,  with  his  customary  sternness,  reserved 
judgment  for  himself,  was  permitted  to  enter  the  town. 
The  merchants  justly  fearing  his  anger,  six  hundred  of  their 
number  left  the  city  during  the  night,  carrying  with  them 
all  their  movable  goods.  The  son  of  the  merchant  whose 
opposition  to  his  tyranny  had  given  rise  to  the  tumult,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  archbishop,  who  caused  him  and  his 
adherents  to  be  deprived  of  sight. 

Anno  greatly  improved  the  city  of  Cologne,  and  adorned 
it  with  churches.  He  was  canonized  after  his  death,  and  a 
song  in  his  praise,  one  of  the  best  examples  of  the  versifica- 
tion of  the  Middle  Ages,  is  still  extant :  the  extreme  tender- 
ness and  pathos  of  this  poem  strikingly  contrast  with  the  real 


432  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

character  of  its  hero,  whose  stern  inflexibility  seems  to  have 
imparted  a  similar  character  to  Cologne,  perceptible  even  in 
her  glorious  attempt  for  the  reformation  of  the  church. 

During  the  absence  of  Anno  in  Italy,  Henry  had  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  Adalbert,  archbishop  of  Bremen,  Anno's 
rival  for  the  regency,  to  which  the  favor  with  which  he  had 
been  beheld  by  Henry  III. ,  and  the  decree  passed  by  Anno, 
furnished  him  with  a  title;  independently  of  this,  he  re- 
garded himself  as  the  most  polished  and  learned  man  of 
the  times,  as  the  only  one  capable  of  ruling  the  empire  and 
of  rearing  the  monarch.  A  lineal  descendant  of  the  noble 
house  of  "Wettin  of  Slavonia,  handsome  and  dignified  in  per- 
son, learned  and  witty,  he  regarded  the  gloomy  sternness  of 
Anno  and  the  coarse  manners  of  the  nobles  with  the  con- 
tempt natural  to  a  man  of  refined  taste  and  high  birth,  and 
by  the  gentleness  of  his  treatment  ere  long  caused  the 
youthful  monarch  to  rejoice  at  his  good  fortune  in  having 
fallen  into  his  custody.  Henry  was,  however,  entirely  cor- 
rupted by  his  new  guardian.  The  sudden  change  from  the 
severity  with  which  he  had  been  treated  by  Anno,  to  the 
unlimited  liberty  he  enjoyed  under  Adalbert's  roof,  was  of 
itself  pernicious.  The  gravity  and  study  to  which  he  had 
been  inured  were  now  suddenly  exchanged  for  the  thought- 
less gayety  of  a  licentious  court,  where  affairs  of  state  were 
treated  as  lightly  as  a  jest.  The  most  unbridled  simony  was 
practiced  by  the  archbishop,  who  thus  sought  to  fill  the  most 
important  benefices  with  his  partisans,  and  by  means  of  a 
new  toy,  or  the  caresses  of  beautiful  courtesans, l  or  a  fresh 
amusement,  the  invention  of  the  ready  brain  of  his  favorite, 
the  handsome  Graf  Werner,  he  easily  obtained  the  letters, 
signatures,  and  donations  requisite  for  the  success  of  his 
plans.  The  worst  result  of  the  influence  gained  by  Adalbert 
over  the  mind  of  the  young  monarch  was  the  contempt 
with  which  he  studiously  inspired  him  for  the  dukes,  and 
more  especially  for  the  stupid  German  people,  to  whom  Adal- 
bert imagined  himself  to  be  so  superior,  as  well  as  a  dislike 
1  Among  whom  were  abbesses  and  nuns  of  high  birth. 


THE   FRANCONIAN,  SALIC   EMPERORS  433 

of  the  Saxons,  which  he  only  too  speedily  imbibed.  During 
the  reign  of  Henry  III.  the  Saxons  and  the  archbishop  had 
been  at  feud,  and  it  was  therefore  of  consequence  to  him  to 
have  the  monarch  on  his  side,  and  Henry  thus  unwittingly 
acquired  an  antipathy  as  unbecoming  to  him  when  emperor 
as  it  in  the  sequel  proved  dangerous. 

In  1063,  Henry  accompanied  Adalbert  in  a  campaign 
against  Hungary,  where  Bela,  after  rebelling  against  and 
assassinating  Andreas,  had  expelled  his  son  Salomo,  the 
affianced  bridegroom  of  Jutta,  the  emperor's  sister-  Adal- 
bert restored  Salomo  to  the  Hungarian  throne,  on  condition 
of  his  holding  it  in  fee  of  the  empire,  and  bestowed  upon 
him  the  hand  of  Henry's  sister.  Hildebrand's  anger  was 
greatly  roused  by  this  proceeding;  Hungary,  according  to 
him,  being  a  papal  fief.  During  the  same  year,  Henry  be- 
held at  Goslar  the  struggle  for  precedence  in  church  during 
divine  service,  between  the  bishop  of  Hildesheim  and  the 
abbot  of  Fulda,  on  which  occasion  several  men  lost  their 
lives,  so  lawless  were,  at  that  period,  the  manners  of  the 
clergy,  who  were  equally  unchecked  by  both  Adalbert  and 
Anno,  the  former  of  whom  cherished  an  ambitious  hope  of 
elevating  the  see  of  Bremen  to  the  patriarchate  of  the  North, 
and,  in  the  name  of  the  emperor,  of  rendering  the  temporal 
lords  submissive  to  his  authority,  an  attempt  which  drew 
upon  him  universal  hatred. 

In  1065,  Henry  was  solemnly  declared  capable  of  bearing 
arms.  Scarcely  was  his  sword  girded  on  than  he  drew  it 
jestingly  upon  Anno,  who  was  present;  an  action  at  once 
indicative  of  dislike  and  levity. 

CXLII.   Henry  the  Fourth 

HENRY  IV.,  ever  accompanied  by  Adalbert  and  Werner, 
held  his  imperial  court  with  his  habitual  splendor  near  Gos- 
lar, at  the  Harzburg.  The  Saxons  were  treated  with  the 
utmost  scorn.  The  country  people  in  the  vicinity  were  op- 
pressed with  taxes  and  enforced  labor,  and  the  dislike  with 
GERMANY.  VOL.  I. — 19 


434  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

which  the  Saxons  were  viewed  by  the  monarch  ere  long  be- 
came as  unbearable  to  them  as  his  licentious  habits,  which 
were,  with  reason,  a  scandal  and  a  shame  to  the  whole  em- 
pire. His  mistresses  were  seen  in  public  adorned  with  gold 
and  precious  stones,  taken  from  the  consecrated  vessels  of 
the  churches,  etc.  The  jealousy  with  which  the  vassals 
of  the  empire  beheld  Adalbert  was,  nevertheless,  the  chief 
motive  of  the  conspiracy.  Anno  again  suddenly  intermed- 
dled with  state  affairs,  and  convoking  a  general  assembly  at 
Tribur,  cited  Henry  to  appear  before  it.  On  his  refusal,  the 
conspirators  surrounded  the  palace,  and  seized  his  person; 
Adalbert  narrowly  escaped  being  taken  prisoner,  and  re- 
mained for  three  years  in  concealment,  while  the  Saxons  laid 
his  lands  waste.  Werner  was  slain.  The  courtiers  were  dis- 
persed, and  Henry  was  compelled  to  abjure  his  mode  of  life, 
and  to  wed  Bertha,  the  daughter  of  the  Italian  Markgraf 
of  Susa,  to  whom  he  had  some  time  earlier  been  affianced ; 
a  noble-spirited  woman  who  alone  wanted  beauty  in  order 
easily  to  supplant  the  mistresses  of  the  young  emperor,  who 
returned  with  her  in  extreme  displeasure  to  Goslar,  A.D.  1066. 
Anno  was  again  at  the  head  of  affairs,  but  the  whole 
empire  still  presented  a  scene  of  anarchy ;  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  lords  disputed  the  possession  of  feudal  territories, 
and  offices  of  church  and  state.  Cuno,  archbishop  of  Treves, 
who  owed  his  elevation  to  the  intrigues  of  Anno,  was  pre- 
cipitated down  a  mountain  by  the  enraged  citizens.  The  dis- 
sensions that  prevailed  throughout  the  empire,  and  the  free- 
booting  expeditions  of  the  Saxon  chiefs  into  the  archbishopric 
of  Bremen,  induced  a  fresh  insurrection  among  the  northern 
Slavi,  and  the  heathen  party,  headed  by  Plasso,  Gottschalk's 
brother-in-law,  extirpated  Christianity.  The  vain  attempts 
of  Ordulf,  the  son  of  Bernhard,  and,  after  his  death,  those  of 
his  son  Magnus,  to  oppose  the  inroads  of  the  Slavi,  merely 
added  to  the  misery  of  the  Saxons,  and  imbittered  their 
hatred  of  their  inactive  and  licentious  emperor.  Hamburg 
and  Mecklenburg  were  destroyed  by  the  pagans,  who  sacri- 
ficed John,  bishop  of  Mecklenburg,  to  their  deities,  stoned  St. 


THE  FRANCONIAN,  SALIC   EMPERORS  435 

Ansverus,  the  abbot  of  Ratzeburg,  and  twenty-eight  monks, 
to  death,  assassinated  the  noble  Gottschalk  at  Lenzen,  at  the 
foot  of  the  altar,  and  turned  his  Danish  wife  out  naked. 
Plasso  was  murdered  by  his  own  followers,  A.D.  1066,  but 
Cruco,  prince  of  the  Rugii,  who  succeeded  him  in  his  domin- 
ions, attained  to  considerable  power,  being  entirely  unmo- 
lested by  the  Saxons,  whose  attention  was  fully  occupied  by 
their  contests  with  the  emperor. 

In  this  year  important  changes  took  place  in  the  North. 
Canute  the  Great,  king  of  Denmark,  Norway,  and  England, 
had  espoused  Emma,  the  princess  of  Normandy,  the  widow 
of  Ethelred  and  mother  of  Edmund  Ironside,  the  last  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  dynasty.  She  became  the  mother  of  Hardi- 
canute,  who,  on  the  death  of  Canute,  A.D.  1036,  succeeded 
to  the  thrones  of  Denmark  and  Norway;  Harold  Harefoot, 
the  son  of  Canute  by  a  former  marriage,  inheriting  that  of 
Britain.  On  the  death  of  these  princes,  A.D.  1041,  a  general 
revolution  took  place,  and  Denmark  alone  remained  in  the 
possession  of  a  nephew  of  Canute  the  Great,  Suen  Estridsen, 
whose  daughter,  Siritha,  wedded  Gottschalk,  the  pious  prince 
of  the  Obotrites.  Harald  Haardrade  (the  Hard),  a  half- 
brother  of  Magnus  the  Good,  was  raised  to  the  throne  of 
Norway.  The  youth  of  this  soldier  of  fortune  had  been  spent 
in  search  of  adventure;  he  had  commanded  the  Waringers 
at  Constantinople,  had  served  with  great  gallantry  against 
the  Turks  and  the  Servii,  had  refused  the  hand  of  Zoe,  the 
Greek  empress,  for  which  he  had  been  thrown  into  prison, 
whence  he  escaped,  married  Elisifa,  the  daughter  of  Jaros- 
law,  the  Russian  czar,  and  finally  returned  to  the  North,  to 
mount  the  throne  of  Norway,  where  his  brother  Magnus 
had  already  made  terms  with  Hardicanute.  The  throne  of 
England  was  occupied  by  Edward  the  Confessor,  a  son  of 
Ethelred  and  of  Emma,  who  was,  consequently,  half-brother 
to  Hardicanute,  whose  birth  excited  in  his  breast  such  un- 
natural hatred  toward  his  mother  that  he  openly  accused 
her  of  having  a  bishop  for  her  paramour,  and  condemned 
her  to  undergo  the  ordeal  by  fire.  She  was  accordingly  com- 


436  THE  HISTORY  OF  GERMANY 

pelled  to  pass  over  nine  red-hot  plowshares.  Edward  was 
childless.  His  brother,  Edmund  Ironside,  had  left  two  sons, 
who  had  been  sent  by  Canute  into  Denmark,  whence  they 
had  escaped  to  Hungary,  where  they  had  been  kindly  re- 
ceived by  the  king,  Salomo.  One  of  these  sons,  Edward, 
had  several  children  born  to  him  in  Hungary,  among  whom 
was  Edgar  Atheling,  the  last  scion  of  the  ancient  Anglo- 
Saxon  dynasty.  Edgar  was  invited  by  his  great-uncle,  Ed- 
ward the  Confessor,  to  England,  but  proving  incapable  of 
governing,  Harold,  the  son  of  Goodwin,  a  powerful  Anglo- 
Saxon  noble,  was  raised  to  the  throne,  and  Edgar,  on  the 
death  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  sought  the  protection  of 
William,  duke  of  Normandy,  his  maternal  relative.  Harald 
Haardrade,  of  Norway,  meanwhile  took  advantage  of  the 
disturbances  in  England  to  attempt  the  conquest  of  that 
country.  Toste,  the  brother  of  Harold  the  Saxon,  had, 
through  envy  of  his  brother's  accession  to  the  crown,  joined 
Harald  Haardrade,  who  landed  in  England  at  the  head  of  a 
powerful  army,  and  a  bloody  engagement  took  place  between 
him  and  the  English  near  Stamford,1  in  which  both  Harald 
Haardrade  and  Toste  were  slain,  and  the  Norwegian  army 
was  almost  annihilated.  The  losses  of  the  English  were  also 
so  considerable  in  this  engagement  that  William  of  Nor- 
mandy took  advantage  of  their  weakness  to  make  a  descent 
upon  England  under  pretext  of  reinstating  Edgar,  but,  in 
reality,  with  the  intention  of  taking  possession  of  the  coun- 
try for  himself. 

The  independent  spirit  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  clergy  had 
been  long  beheld  with  uneasiness  by  the  pope,  who,  in  the 
hope  of  increasing  his  influence  in  England,  greatly  favored 
the  Norman  expedition.  The  emperor  also  permitted  the 
duke  to  raise  soldiers  within  his  states,  and  crowds  of  Ger- 
mans flocked  beneath  his  standard.  He  also  promised  to 

1  The  Norwegians,  who  consisted  entirely  of  foot-soldiers,  formed  into  a  pha- 
lanx on  landing  from  their  ships,  and  with  their  shields  presented  an  impenetrable 
front  to  the  attacks  of  the  Saxon  horse,  who  being  put  to  flight,  the  Norwegians 
set  off  in  pursuit,  and  breaking  their  serried  ranks  became  an  easy  prey  to  the 
English,  who  turned  and  cut  them  to  pieces. 


THE   FRANCONIAb,  SALIC   EMPERORS  437 

make  an  inroad  into  France,  in  the  event  of  an  attack  upon 
Normandy  during  the  absence  of  her  duke,  by  the  king  of 
that  country,  whom  William  greatly  feared.  Thus  arose 
the  first  treaty  between  England  and  Germany  against 
France. — William  sailed  for  England  at  the  head  of  a  gal- 
lant and  numerous  army,  and  was  opposed  by  Harold  with 
more  courage  than  prudence.  The  celebrated  battle  of  Hast- 
ings, A.D.  1066,  in  which  Harold,  after  an  obstinate  strug- 
gle, was  defeated  and  slain,  decided  the  fate  of  England. 
William,  with  a  perfidy  equaling  that  of  Harold,  consigned 
the  claims  of  Edgar  to  oblivion,  placed  the  English  crown  on 
his  own  head,  and,  after  either  expelling  or  assassinating  the 
Anglo-Saxon  nobility,  replaced  them  by  those  among  his 
own  followers  who  had  distinguished  themselves  in  the  field, 
among  whom  were  adventurers  from  almost  every  nation  in 
Europe.1  The  feudal  system,  introduced  by  William  the 
Conqueror  and  his  new  nobility,  replaced  the  ancient  Anglo- 
Saxon  Germanic  commonwealth ;  the  Anglo-Saxon  language 
also  became  intermixed  with  numerous  French  words,  which 
the  Normans  had  learned  from  their  neighbors. 

The  imbecile  Edgar  did  homage  in  person  to  the  new 
sovereign.  His  sister,  Margaret,  acted  with  greater  spirit, 
and,  with  a  vast  number  of  followers,  emigrated  into  Scot- 
land, where  she  was  well  received  by  the  king,  Malcolm,  the 
son  of  Duncan,  who  was  murdered  by  Macbeth.  Malcolm 
made  her  his  queen,  and  the  Saxon  tongue  and  customs  in- 
troduced by  her  followers  were  partially  adopted  by  the  wild 
and  hardy  Scots.  Margaret  was  canonized.  Her  daughter, 
Matilda,  wedded  the  son  of  her  enemy,  Henry  I.  of  England, 
and  from  her  descends,  in  an  unbroken  line  on  the  female 
side,  the  present  queen  of  England,  while  from  Margaret, 


1  Numbers  of  the  Flemings  accompanied  William  of  Normandy  to  England; 
Gilbert  of  Ghent,  a  near  relation  of  Balduin,  Graf  of  Flanders,  was  endowed  with 
the  Barony  of  Gaunt,  so  named  after  him,  and  of  Folkingham ;  Walter  Bee  le 
Flamand,  Lord  of  Eresby ;  Drogo  de  Severer,  Lord  of  Holderness ;  Cheebod  le 
Flamand,  created  Earl  of  Chester,  who  fell  in  battle  and  left  no  issue ;  Walcher, 
Earl  of  Northumberland,  who  was  murdered  by  the  people,  and  many  others 
mentioned  by  Gautrel  in  his  Nouvelles  Archiqes  Historiques. 


438  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

upward,  the  race  of  the  ancient  Anglo-Saxon  kings  is,  by 
the  old  chroniclers,  carried  as  far  back  as  Odin. 

While  the  North  was  thus  convulsed,  the  imperial  court 
presented  a  continued  scene  of  petty  dissension.  The  em- 
peror, still  influenced  by  the  prejudices  of  his  youth,  was 
alternately  swayed  by  conflicting  passions,  but  at  length, 
notwithstanding  the  opposition  of  Anno  and  Bertha,  recalled 
Adalbert  to  court,  A.D.  1069.  The  fidelity  and  patience  of 
the  wretched  empress  merely  contributed  to  increase  the  dis- 
like manifested  toward  her  by  her  husband,  and  to  strengthen 
his  resolution  to  free  himself  from  the  tie  that  bound  him  to 
her.  Siegfried,  archbishop  of  Mayence,  offered  to  assist  him 
in  procuring  a  divorce,  on  condition  of  receiving  in  return 
the  tithes  of  Thuringia,  to  which  he  had  laid  claim,  and 
which  had  been  hitherto  steadily  refused  by  the  Thuringians ; 
and  Henry  made  a  public  declaration  at  a  diet  held  at  "Worms, 
of  his  unconquerable  aversion  to  his  unoffending  wife,  from 
whom  he  demanded  a  separation  on  the  plea  of  the  marriage 
having  remained  unconsummated.  His  plan  being  frustrated 
by  the  arrival  of  Damiani,  the  pope's  legate,  in  Germany, 
whose  eloquence  even  impressed  his  versatile  mind,  he  at- 
tempted to  gain  his  end  by  still  more  unjustifiable  means, 
by  exposing  Bertha  to  the  seductions  of  his  courtiers.  He 
caused  the  most  beautiful  women  and  maidens  to  be  carried 
from  their  homes,  and  imprisoned  within  his  palace,  while 
he  surrounded  the  empress  with  the  companions  of  his  profli- 
gacy, to  the  handsomest  of  whom  he  promised  large  sums 
of  money  if  successful  in  insnaring  Bertha,  who,  neverthe- 
less, escaped  their  wiles,  and  a  chronicler  of  the  times  re- 
lates that  she  and  her  maidens  on  one  occasion,  when  the 
emperor  and  his  wicked  companion  were  listening  to  their 
conversation  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening,  suddenly  attacked 
and  beat  them  with  rods;  an  incident  that  seems  to  have 
instantly  given  her  a  place  in  Henry's  affection,  and 
which  is  far  from  improbable,  for,  despite  his  deep  de- 
pravity, his  heart  was  made  of  far  too  soft  materials  not 
to  be  eventually  touched  by  her  invincible  fidelity.  Bertha 


THE   FRANCONIAN,   SALIC   EMPERORS  439 

bore  him  several  children,  and  shared  his  subsequent  mis- 
fortunes. 

Henry  belonged  to  that  class  of  men  whom  sanguine, 
lively,  generous  dispositions  render  truly  amiable,  when  un- 
influenced" by  misguided  passion,  but  who,  unfitted  by  nat- 
ure, are  ever  unsuccessful  when  required  to  govern  them- 
selves or  others.  The  actions  of  such  men,  dependent  upon 
the  impulse  or  caprice  of  the  moment,  must  necessarily  be 
indifferently  good  or  bad.  Impatient  of  calm  thought,  or 
cool  judgment,  their  impetuous  nature  renders  them  incapa- 
ble of  following  the  dictates  of  their  reason  or  of  their  con- 
science. Dispositions  of  this  kind  are  rarely  understood,  and 
are  usually  attributed  to  want  of  character,  and  yet  those 
who  at  ~ne  moment  condemn  them  for  the  crimes  induced 
by  the  abuse  of  their  weaknesses,  are,  in  the  next,  struck 
with  admiration  at  traits  of  the  most  extraordinary  mag- 
nanimity, if  not  of  real  heroism;  royal  qualities,  indeed, 
but  still  unfit  for  the  throne,  where  justice  and  equanimity 
should  reign,  and  where  the  sudden  change  in  the  sovereign 
from  good  to  bad,  and  vice  versa,  is  more  to  be  feared  than 
if  he  remained  true  to  his  vices.  That  the  character  of 
Henry  IV.  was  a  compound  of  sensuality,  insolence,  levity, 
choler,  malice,  revenge,  treachery,  and  mean  cowardice, 
strangely  intermingled  with  real  piety,  generosity,  the  most 
devoted  affection,  the  noblest  sympathy,  bold  resolve,  and 
heroic  bravery,  may  be  clearly  traced,  when  the  insolence 
of  fortune,  total  abandonment  in  misfortune,  the  wicked- 
ness or  the  success  of  his  enemies,  roused  his  evil  passions, 
or  when,  swayed  by  remorse  for  his  own  crimes,  by  the  con- 
sciousness of  possessing  nobler  and  better  qualities,  by  com- 
passion for  the  sufferings  of  his  enemies,  or  of  those  whom 
he  had  ill-treated,  and  by  the  fidelity  of  his  friends,  he  sud- 
denly inclined  to  virtue. 

The  dangerous  and  extreme  severity  with  which  he  treated 
the  dukes  appears  to  have  arisen  more  from  his  youthful  pro- 
pensity, the  love  of  displaying  his  power,  than  from  the  les- 
sons of  Adalbert,  or  his  father's  example;  and  this  was 


440  THE   HISTORY   OF    GERMANY 

evidently  strengthened  by  a  desire  of  avenging  his  abduc- 
tion from  Kaiserswerth  and  his  imprisonment  at  Tribur, 
which,  as  a  monarch,  and  in  the  consciousness  of  his  guilt, 
he  ought  to  have  consigned  to  oblivion.  Urged  by  his 
hatred  of  the  Saxons,  he  treated  the  duke  Magnus  and  the 
Margraves,  as  well  as  the  bishops  who  adhered  to  An  no's 
party,  with  the  greatest  scorn,  imposed  heavy  taxes  on  the 
people,  encouraged  the  Wendi  in  their  attacks  upon  the  coun- 
try, as  thereby  doing  him  service,  entered  into  a  secret  alli- 
ance with  the  Danes  under  pretense  of  securing  himself 
against  an  inroad  of  the  Saxons,  and  continually  threatened 
to  render  Thuringia  dependent  on  the  archbishopric  of  May- 
ence.  The  Saxons,  impatient  of  being  thus  treated  like  a 
conquered  nation,  rested  their  hopes  upon  Otto  of  Nordheim, 
duke  of  Bavaria,  who  was  suddenly  accused,  by  a  man  named 
Egino,  of  having  hired  him  to  assassinate  Henry,  whose 
knavery  at  that  time  was  so  well  known  as  to  induce  a  sus- 
picion of  his  having  himself  fabricated  the  plot.  The  mat- 
ter was  adjudged  to  be  decided  by  single  combat,  but 
Otto,  justly  fearing  treachery,  absented  himself,  upon  which 
Henry  declared  him  guilty,  placed  him  out  of  the  ban  of  the 
empire,  and  taking  possession  of  his  dukedom  of  Bavaria, 
gave  it  in  fee  to  the  "Welf .  This  Welf,  who  had  been  edu- 
cated in  Italy,  and  was  a  master  in  Italian  wiles,  was  the 
most  ignoble  of  the  princes  of  those  times,  and  proved  as 
great  a  scandal  to  Henry's  choice  as  he  was  ungrateful  to 
him  for  his  favors.  "With  genuine  cowardice,  ever  joining 
the  stronger  party,  he  had  the  meanness  to  send  back  his 
bride,  the  daughter  of  Otto,  in  disgrace  to  her  father,  who 
went  into  Saxony,  and  confederating  with  Magnus,  raised 
a  rebellion.  Both  were,  however,  under  pretext  of  arrang- 
ing terms  of  peace,  seized,  and  Magnus  was  thrown  intc. 
prison.  Otto  was  allowed  to  remain  at  liberty  by  the  em- 
peror, either  from  a  feeling  of  the  injustice  with  which  he 
had  treated  him  or  from  a  political  motive. 

The  death  of  Adalbert,  which,  fortunately  for  the  empire, 
took  place  during  this  year,  once  more  threw  the  reins  of 


THE   FRANCONIAN,  SALIC    EMPERORS  441 

government  for  a  short  period  into  the  hands  of  Anno. 
Henry,  emboldened  by  his  late  success,  now  attempted  to 
reduce  the  rest  of  the  dukes  to  submission.  His  first  attack 
was  made  upon  the  weakest,  Berthold,  whom  he  deprived 
of  the  dukedom  of  Carinthia,  hi  order  to  bestow  it  upon 
Ludolf,  the  son  of  the  former  duke.  Rudolf  of  Swabia 
was  protected  from  a  similar  fate  by  his  superior  power, 
and  by  his  being  doubly  and  closely  connected  with  the 
emperor  by  his  marriage  with  Matilda,  after  whose  death 
he  had  espoused  the  sister  of  Bertha ;  Agnes,  who  had  pur- 
posely quitted  Italy  for  Germany,  was  enabled  to  bring 
about  a  reconciliation  between  the  contending  relations. 

Great  disturbances  also  broke  out  in  Flanders.  The 
count,  Balduin  VI.,  died  in  1071,  leaving  his  widow, 
Richilda,  with  two  infant  sons,  Arnulf  and  Balduin. 
Richilda  governed  in  the  name  of  the  former,  but,  ren- 
dering herself  hated  by  her  tyranny,  she  was  abandoned 
by  her  subjects,  who  transferred  their  allegiance  to  Robert 
the  Friscian,  her  husband's  brother.  Richilda  now  implored 
the  aid  of  her  feudal  liege,  Philip  I.  of  France,  who  accord- 
ingly entered  Flanders  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  army,  but 
was  completely  routed  at  Castel  (Cassel)  by  Robert,  who 
was  backed  by  the  whole  of  the  German  population.  Ri- 
childa was  taken  prisoner,  and  her  unfortunate  son  was  put 
to  death.  Robert,  while  too  hotly  pursuing  the  retreating 
French,  falling  into  their  hands,  Gottfried,  bishop  of  Paris, 
intervened  between  the  contending  parties,  and  peace  was 
concluded.  Robert  was  restored  to  liberty,  and  received  the 
ducal  crown  of  Flanders.  Richilda  was  also  set  at  liberty, 
and  Hennegau  was  bestowed  upon  her  second  son,  Balduin, 
A.D.  1072.  A  second  attempt  on  her  part  to  regain  posses- 
sion of  Flanders  proved  abortive,  and  her  party  suffered  a 
bloody  defeat  at  Brogneroy. 

Henry,  meanwhile,  excited  the  hatred  of  the  Saxons  by 
his  insolence  and  tyranny.  The  country  was  kept  in  awe 
by  the  strongly  fortified  Harzburg,  and  by  numerous  minor 
fortresses,  garrisoned  with  Franks  and  Swabians,  who  were 


442  THE    HISTORY    OF   GERMANY 

supported  by  the  pillage  of  the  neighboring  villages.  A  syn- 
od, held  by  the  emperor  at  Erfurt,  in  which  he  imposed  the 
tithes  demanded  by  the  archbishop  of  Mayence  on  Thuringia, 
effectually  imbittered  the  minds  of  the  Saxon  bishops  against 
him,  and,  A.D.  1073,  a  conspiracy,  planned  by  Otto  of  Nord- 
heim,  was  entered  into  by  the  Saxons.  The  chiefs  in  this 
conspiracy  were  Graf  Hermann,  the  brother  of  the  captive 
Duke  Magnus,  Udo  von  Stade,  Margrave  of  Brandenburg, 
Egbert,  Margrave  of  Meissen,  and  Dedo,  Margrave  of  the 
Lausitz,  the  two  sons  of  the  Ekbert  who  had  formerly  seized 
the  person  of  the  monarch,  Louis,  Landgrave  of  Thuringia, 
the  son  of  Louis  the  Bearded,  Frederick,  the  Pfalzgraf  of 
Saxony,  the  Grafs  of  Holstein,  "Waldeck,  Suplinburg,  and 
numerous  others.  Among  the  spiritual  lords  were,  Wezilo, 
of  Magdeburg,  Bucco,  of  Halberstadt,  whose  pursuits  were 
rather  those  of  a  warrior  than  of  a  bishop,  Anno's  nephew 
and  Henry's  most  violent  opponent,  and  Benno  of  Meissen, 
a  peaceful  missionary,  a  planter  of  the  fruit-tree  and  the 
vine,1  besides  all  the  other  Saxon  bishops,  with  the  exception 
of  those  of  Bremen,  Zeiz,  and  Osnabruck,  who  sided  with 
the  emperor,  and  were  consequently  expelled  from  the  coun- 
try. Adela,  the  wife  of  the  Margrave  Dedo,  an  ambitious 
and  rancorous  woman,  was  also  ceaseless  in  her  endeavors 
to  incite  the  Saxons,  whose  complaints  against  their  emperor, 
although  just  in  the  outset,  were  purposely  exaggerated. 

The  object  of  the  conspiracy  of  the  princes,  instead  of  be- 
ing the  relief  of  the  people,  merely  aimed  at  securing  their 
own  independence;  a  project  that  was,  however,  defeated  by 
the  reciprocal  jealousy  between  the  rulers  of  Northern  and 
Southern  Germany.  The  Saxon  league  at  first  laid  its  com- 
plaints before  Henry  at  Goslar,  in  the  form  of  a  petition  for 
redress,  and  the  noble-spirited  Otto  of  Nordheim  offered  to 
be  imprisoned  in  the  place  of  his  brother  Magnus,  on  condi- 
tion of  his  being  restored  to  his  dukedom.  The  deputation, 

1  He  first  introduced  the  vine  into  Thuringia.  He  was  also  a  patron  of 
music,  and  the  author  of  the  melody,  "Ein  Kindelein  so  lobelich. " — See  Hose's 
Palceologw. 


THE   FRANCON1AN,  SALIC   EMPERORS  443 

after  being  allowed  to  remain  during  a  whole  day  in  the 
anteroom,  was  at  length  scornfully  dismissed  by  Henry. 
The  Saxons,  provoked  to  violence  by  this  conduct,  were  still 
more  excited  by  Otto  of  Nordheim,  who  loudly  called  upon 
them  to  revenge  the  insult,  and  suddenly  assembling  to  the 
number  of  sixty  thousand,  they  besieged  the  emperor  in  the 
Harzburg.  Overcome  by  fear,  Henry  sought  safety  by  secret 
flight,  in  which  he  was  assisted  by  Berthold  of  Zahringen, 
who  accidentally  happened  to  be  present.  The  Harzburg 
was  taken  by  the  Saxons,  who,  nevertheless,  did  not  vent- 
ure to  destroy  it;  several  other  forts  also  fell  into  their 
hands;  the  rest  were  gallantly  defended  by  the  imperial 
garrisons.  Magnus  was  set  at  liberty  in  exchange  for  sev- 
enty Swabians,  who  were  captured  in  a  fort  by  his  brother 
Hermann ;  a  circumstance  that  gave  rise  to  the  Saxon  prov- 
erb, "One  Saxon  is  worth  seventy  Swabians." 

Henry  fled  to  Hersfield,  where,  finding  the  Upper  Ger- 
mans, whom  he  had  shortly  before  summoned  for  the  pur- 
pose of  invading  Poland,  assembled,  he  resolved  to  make 
head  with  them  against  the  Saxons,  and  called  a  meeting 
at  Gerstungen,  in  which,  although  the  Upper  German 
princes  declared  their  unwillingness  to  enter  into  a  con- 
test with  Saxony,  the  Saxon  party  attempted  to  work  upon 
the  passions  of  Rudolf  of  Swabia,  by  means  of  a  person 
named  Regingar,  whom  they  caused  to  make  the  false  as- 
sertion of  his  having  been  hired  by  the  emperor  to  assassin- 
ate him.  Ulric  of  Cosheim,  Henry's  true  and  valiant  ad- 
herent, challenged  the  accuser  to  single  combat,  which  never 
took  place,  Regingar  being  deprived  of  his  senses  before  the 
day  appointed  for  the  trial.  The  princes,  meanwhile,  with- 
drew their  allegiance  from  Henry,  who,  seeing  himself  uni 
yersally  abandoned,  took  refuge  in  Worms,  where  the  brave 
citizens,  jealous  of  their  new  privileges,  had,  at  that  period, 
just  followed  the  example  of  their  Cologne  neighbors,  by  ex- 
pelling from  their  city  Adalbero,  their  bishop,  a  man  of  inor- 
dinate corpulence.  The  emperor  was  received  with  every 
demonstration  of  delight,  the  cities,  as  well  as  the  free  peas- 


444  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

antry,  supporting  him  against  the  pretensions  of  the  princes 
and  minor  nobility ;  and  had  Henry  understood  how  to  make 
use  of  the  means  thus  voluntarily  put  into  his  power,  the  vic- 
tory would  have  easily  been  his :  but  ignorant  of  the  strength 
of  his  new  adherents,  and  influenced  by  an  undue  fear  of  that 
of  the  dukes,  his  cowardly  behavior  ere  long  cooled  the  zeal  of 
the  citizens.  He  again  suddenly  appeared  in  the  assembly 
of  the  Upper  German  princes  at  Oppenheim,  and  throwing 
himself  at  their  feet,  at  length  drew  from  them  a  lukewarm 
promise  of  assistance  against  the  Saxons.  His  troops,  how- 
ever, refusing  to  attack  the  enemy  on  the  Werra,  he  was 
compelled  to  sign  a  treaty  of  peace  at  Goslar,  in  which  he 
granted  all  the  demands  of  the  Saxons.  The  tithes  were 
abolished;  every  fortress,  even  that  of  the  Harz,  which 
Henry  vainly  entreated  might  be  spared,  was  razed  to  the 
ground.  The  Saxons  had  even  the  barbarity  to  drag  the 
remains  of  a  brother  and  of  a  son  of  the  emperor  from 
the  grave,  in  order  to  bestow  upon  them  every  mark  of 
indignity,  A.D.  1073;  an  act  of  sacrilege  so  revolting  to  the 
feelings  of  the  times  that  every  prince  of  the  empire,  those 
of  the  Rhine  country,  and  of  Upper  Germany,  nay,  even 
the  Bohemians,  joined  in  a  crusade  against  them,  and  Henry 
quickly  found  himself  at  the  head  of  an  immense  army.  The 
contempt  with  which  the  Saxons  treated  their  brother  nations, 
and  the  petty  hatred  that  had  ever  subsisted  between  the  Up- 
per and  Lower  Germans,  greatly  contributed  to  the  universal 
exasperation.  The  Saxons,  fearing  the  event,  offered  to  yield 
to  any  terms,  even  to  the  reconstruction  of  the  Harzburg ;  but 
Henry,  inspirited  by  revenge,  had  sworn  their  ruin,  and  sud- 
denly attacked  them  near  Langensalza,  on  the  Unstrutt.  A 
bloody  battle  ensued,  which  was  decided  by  the  valor  of  the 
Swabians,  under  Rudolf.  The  Saxon  nobles  turned  their 
horses  and  fled;  the  infantry,  deprived  of  every  means  of 
escape,  were  cut  down  by  thousands,  and  thus,  while  the 
Saxon  peasants  alone  suffered,  numbers  of  the  nobility  in 
the  imperial  army  fell  on  this  occasion ;  among  others,  Ernst 
of  Babenberg,  Margrave  of  Austria.  The  ancient  privilege 


THE  FRANCONIAN,  SALIC   EMPERORS  445 

of  the  Swabians  to  head  the  imperial  army  was  again  con- 
firmed to  them  on  the  field  of  battle. 

Rudolf,  Welf,  and  Berthold,  after  this,  fearing  the  rising 
power  of  the  emperor,  withdrew;  but  notwithstanding  the 
consequent  diminution  of  his  forces,  Henry  succeeded  in  re- 
ducing the  Saxons  (who  had  become  a  prey  to  internal  dis- 
sension, the  peasantry  being  unable  to  forget  the  late  das- 
tardly conduct  of  the  nobility,  and  who  were,  moreover, 
threatened  by  the  Danes  and  Wends)  to  submission,  A.D. 
1076.  They  laid  down  their  arms  at  Spira,  in  Thuringia; 
all  the  princes  gave  themselves  up,  and  were  thrown  into 
prison,  with  the  exception  of  Otto  of  Nordheim,  who,  al- 
though Henry's  bitterest  enemy,  had  ever  been  viewed  by 
him  with  more  admiration  than  dislike.  He  was  nominated 
duke  of  Saxony. 

CXLIII.    Gregory  the  Seventh 

ALEXANDER  II.  died,  A.D.  1073,  and  Hildebrand,  now 
advanced  in  years,  deemed  it  necessary,  for  the  success  of 
his  plans,  to  place  the  tiara  on  his  own  brows,  under  the 
name  of  Gregory  VII.  The  Saxon  war  favored  his  projects. 
At  first  he  sought  to  gain  Henry's  friendship,  and  Agnes 
offered  to  use  her  influence  in  his  favor,  but  he  quickly  per- 
ceived how  little  dependence  could  be  placed  on  the  caprices  of 
that  monarch,  and  resolved  to  act  in  future  for  himself  alone. 

This  pope  evinced  the  most  extraordinary  degree  of  activ- 
ity. Although  unsuccessful  in  Germany,  he  rendered  the 
papal  authority  respected  throughout  Spain,  France,  and 
Hungary.  He  then  proceeded  to  carry  out  his  favorite 
projects  for  the  reformation  of  the  church,  by  punishing 
simony,  encouraging  morality,  and  depriving  the  laity  of 
the  right  of  interference  in  spiritual  matters.  For  this  pur- 
pose he  published  two  edicts,  which  will  ever  be  memorable 
on  account  of  their  influence  not  only  on  the  ensuing  cent- 
ury, but  also  on  our  own  times. 

His  next  step  was  to  decree  the  celibacy  of  all  the  clergy. 
Up  to  this  period,  A.D.  1074,  the  monks  alone  had  practiced 


446  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

celibacy,  the  bishops  and  priests  having  wives  and  children. 
Piety,  and  the  renunciation  of  worldly  joys,  had  arrived  at 
such  a  pitch  of  enthusiasm  that  chastity  seemed  to  have  be- 
come a  necessary  quality  in  a  priest,  more  especially  since 
the  introduction  of  the  worship  of  the  Madonna,  whose  sup- 
posed eternal  virginity  presented  an  idea  of  purity  and  sanc- 
tity which  swayed  Christian  minds  the  more  powerfully  on 
account  of  the  contrast  it  presented  to  the  tenets  of  the 
Mahometan  religion,  founded  alone  on  license  and  sensual 
gratification.  The  sufferings  of  Christ  and  those  of  the  mar- 
tyrs were  eternally  cited  as  proofs  that  the  highest  aim  of 
the  Christian  was  to  suffer  and  to  practice  self-denial;  the 
priests  were,  consequently,  expected  to  set  the  first  and  high- 
est example.  They  were  (during  their  earthly  pilgrimage) 
to  personate  the  saints  and  the  holy  angels.  By  this  means 
Gregory  also  hoped  to  strengthen  the  unity  of  the  church. 
As  long  as  the  bishops  were  allowed  to  marry,  their  families 
took  hereditary  possession  of  the  bishoprics,  and  sought,  like 
the  nobility,  to  render  themselves  alike  independent  of  both 
pope  and  emperor.  Celibacy  at  once  controlled  the  ambition 
of  the  clergy,  and  dissolving  every  tie  between  them,  their 
country,  and  their  kindred,  rendered  them  the  servants  of 
the  pope  and  of  the  church,  and  formed  them  into  a  class 
distinct  from  the  rest  of  mankind ;  but  Gregory  falsely  reck- 
oned when  founding  this  great  institution.  He  expected  too 
much  from  human  nature.  Celibacy  is  at  variance  with  laws 
both  human  and  divine,  and  nature  vindicated  herself  by 
broken  vows,  hypocrisy,  and  dark  and  secret  crimes.  The 
priests,  particularly  those  in  Germany,  strongly  opposed  this 
decree,  and  when  Siegfried  of  Mayence  proposed  the  meas- 
ure in  an  assembly  of  the  German  bishops  at  Erfurt,  it  was 
opposed  with  such  violence  that  his  life  was  in  danger.  Alt- 
mann,  bishop  of  Passau,  Gregory's  most  zealous  partisan, 
was  expelled  by  his  own  chapter. '  Gregory  upon  this  raised 

1  Gregory  rewarded  him  by  placing  his  own  miter  on  his  head  at  Rome. 
Altmann  built  the  monastery  of  Gottweich,  afterward  celebrated  for  the  erudi- 
tion of  the  monks,  on  a  lofty  rock,  as  a  sign  that  God  is  higher  than  all  the 
potentates  of  earth. 


THE   FRANCONIAN,  SALIC   EMPERORS  447 

a  popular  feeling  against  the  uxorious  clergy,  by  placing 
them  under  excommunication,  and  by  forbidding  the  people 
to  attend  mass.  His  policy  proved  successful.  It  was  in 
vain  that  Otto,  bishop  of  Constance,  and  Ulrich,  of  Ratis- 
bon,  justified  the  marriage  of  the  clergy,  by  the  citation  of 
passages  from  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  and  from  other  parts 
of  the  Bible ;  it  was  in  vain  that  they  appealed  to  the  laws 
of  nature ;  the  priest,  in  the  opinion  of  the  people,  was  to  be 
as  free  from  earthly  taint  as  an  angel  of  light ;  and  natural 
affection  was  denounced  by  them  as  a  culpable  and  sensual 
weakness.  The  German  clergy  were,  before  long,  compelled 
to  obey  the  decree  of  their  superior. 

A  second  decree  of  equal  importance  followed.  The  pope 
forbade  the  election  of  the  bishops  by  the  laity,  and  by  thus 
rendering  the  possession  of  benefices  no  longer  dependent  on 
the  caprice  of  the  monarch  and  his  courtiers,  effectually  pre- 
vented simony.  This  decree  further  declared  the  church  in- 
dependent of  the  state,  and  the  extensive  lands,  which,  up 
to  this  period,  had  been  held  as  feofs  of  the  crown  through 
the  monarch's  right  of  election,  the  property  of  the  church. 
The  clergy  alone  were  invested  with  the  power  of  electing 
the  bishops,  who  were  confirmed  by  the  pope,  the  temporal 
sovereign  being  without  a  voice  in  the  matter. 

Gregory  also  confirmed  without  delay  the  interdiction  for- 
merly pronounced  against  the  doctrines  of  Rantram  and  of 
Berengar  of  Tours,  and  laid  down  as  an  eternal  truth,  that 
the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  were  really  present  in  the  sacra- 
mental bread  and  wine,  and  that  the  priest  alone — in  fact, 
every  priest  indifferently,  whether  personally  worthy  or  un- 
worthy— was  enabled,  merely  by  virtue  of  his  office,  to  trans- 
form the  host  into  the  real  body  of  the  Saviour  (transubstan- 
tiatio).  Moreover,  in  order  to  place  the  church,  now  power- 
ful and  independent,  under  one  head,  Gregory  bestowed  upon 
himself,  and  all  future  popes,  unlimited  authority  over  the 
councils,  and  declared  every  assembly  of  the  clergy  invalid 
unless  convoked  by  the  pope.  Like  Charlemagne,  who, 
when  he  had  firmly  rooted  his  power,  governed  his  exten- 


448  THE    HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

sive  territory  by  means  of  Sendgrafs,  Gregory  dispatched  his 
legates,  who,  acting  in  his  name,  were  infallible  like  him, 
to  the  various  European  courts.  He  declared,  "the  pope  is 
through  God  and  instead  of  God  on  earth,  therefore  all  pow- 
ers, whether  temporal  or  spiritual,  are  subject  to  him.  The 
pope  is  the  sun,  the  emperor  the  moon  that  shines  with  bor- 
rowed light." 

The  Saxons  had  not  failed  to  lay  their  complaints  against 
their  sovereign  before  the  pope,  and  Henry,  by  thoughtlessly 
complaining  to  him  of  his  rebellious  subjects,  gave  him  an 
opportunity  of  setting  himself  up  as  umpire.  Gregory,  well 
aware  of  the  weak  nature  of  the  emperor  and  of  his  own 
power,  treated  him  without  reserve,  and  openly  accusing 
him  of  simony,  haughtily  commanded  him  to  come  in  per- 
son to  Rome,  and  excommunicated  those  among  the  bishops 
who  had  been  guilty  of  a  similar  crime.  Henry,  unacquainted 
with  Gregory's  character,  took  the  matter  lightly,  and  held 
a  convocation  of  the  German  bishops  at  Worms,  A.D.  1076, 
by  which  Gregory  was  deposed.  This  called  forth  a  still 
more  decisive  step  on  the  part  of  the  bold  pontiff,  who  placed 
the  emperor  under  an  interdict,  released  his  subjects  from 
their  oath  of  allegiance,  and  declared  him  deprived  of  his 
dignity.  Henry  at  first  treated  the  acts  of  the  proud  monk 
with  scorn,  but  was  quickly  struck  with  terror  on  perceiving 
their  instantaneous  effect.  With  the  exception  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  cities,  whose  commercial  habits,  and  the  free 
peasantry,  whose  ancient  Germanic  constitution,  had  ever 
been  opposed  to  papacy,  Henry  was  deserted  to  a  man  by 
his  subjects,  who  avoided  him  as  one  infected  with  the 
plague.  The  Saxons,  led  by  Otto  of  Nordheim,  instantly 
flew  to  arms.  The  foreign  garrisons  were  driven  out  of  the 
country.  Several  of  the  imprisoned  princes  escaped.  The 
remainder,  after  a  touching  appeal  from  Henry  for  peace 
and  aid,  were  restored  to  liberty :  but  his  evil  hour  had  at 
length  arrived;  all  his  enemies,  even  Welf,  who  owed  him 
such  a  debt  of  gratitude,  found  an  excuse  for  their  treason, 
their  revenge,  or  their  rapacity,  in  the  papal  interdict,  and 


THE   FRAXCONIAN,   SALIC    EMPERORS  449 

Henry,  abandoned  by  all,  was,  notwithstanding  his  earnest 
entreaties,  declared,  in  a  diet  held  at  Oppenheim,  deprived 
of  his  dignity,  until  he  had  freed  himself  from  the  interdict, 
and  the  pope  was  invited  to  visit  Augsburg  during  the  fol- 
lowing year,  in  order  to  settle  the  affairs  of  Germany.  The 
election  of  Rudolf  in  Henry's  stead  was  next  attempted,  and 
in  ordei  to  render  it  impossible  for  the  unfortunate  emperor 
to  free  himself  from  the  interdict,  he  was  assigned  a  close 
residence  at  Spires,  and  deprived  of  any  mode  of  communi- 
cation with  Italy.  In  this  desperate  situation  he  found  that 
his  only  chance  of  safety  lay  in  being  beforehand  with  the 
rebellious  princes,  by  escaping  to  Italy,  and  imploring  the 
pope  at  any  price  to  raise  the  interdict;  and  he  accordingly 
secretly  set  off  with  that  intent,  accompanied  by  Bertha,  his 
infant  son,  and  a  solitary  knight,  who,  it  is  not  known  upon 
what  grounds,  is  said  by  the  Swabian  chronicler,  Crusius, 
to  have  been  Frederick  of  Buren,  the  ancestor  of  the  Hohen- 
staufen  family.  The  winter  of  this  year,  A.D.  1076,  hap- 
pened to  be  colder  than  had  been  known  within  the  memory 
of  man,  and  the  Rhine  remained  frozen  over  from  St.  Mar- 
tin's day  until  the  April  of  1077.  It  was  in  this  dreadful 
weather,  about  Christmas  time,  that  the  imperial  pilgrims, 
each  moment  dreading  discovery  from  Rudolf's  spies,  crossed 
the  pathless  Alps,  and  reached  Vevey  on  the  Lake  of  Geneva 
in  safety.  Here  they  were  forcibly  detained  by  Bertha's 
mother  and  by  her  brother  Amadeus,  Graf  of  Savoy,  from 
whom  they  purchased  a  free  passage  by  the  cession  of  five 
Burgundian  bishoprics.  They  crossed  the  St.  Bernard  dur- 
ing the  depth  of  winter,  and  Bertha,  whom  neither  danger 
nor  distress  could  separate  from  her  husband,  was  drawn 
over  the  ice  seated  on  an  ox-hide,  while  the  most  Christian 
emperor  climbed  like  a  chamois  hunter  along  the  rocky,  dan- 
gerous paths. 

On  entering  Lombardy  he  was  unexpectedly  met  by  num- 
bers of  the  Italian  princes  and  bishops,  by  whom  he  was  def- 
erentially greeted  as  emperor.  Those  among  the  Italians 
who  had  at  that  time  fallen  under  the  papal  interdict,  par- 


450  THE   HISTORY   OF    GERMANY 

ticularly  the  bishops  of  Milan  and  Ravenna,  joined  Henry, 
and  exhorted  him  to  place  himself  at  their  head  for  the  pur- 
pose of  dethroning  the  pope;  but,  still  influenced  by  his  awe 
of  the  German  princes,  the  dispirited  emperor  refused,  and 
resolved  to  remain  faithful  to  his  original  intention  of  implor- 
ing Gregory's  pardon.  The  pope,  who  happened  at  this  mo- 
ment to  be  on  his  way  to  Augsburg,  was  not  a  little  alarmed 
on  receiving  the  news  of  Henry's  arrival  in  Italy,  and  for 
the  better  security  of  his  person  threw  himself  into  the  fort- 
ress of  Canossa,  whose  gates  were  opened  to  him  by  his  ally, 
the  Countess  Matilda,  who  shortly  before  had  become  a  widow. 
Gottfried  the  Hunchback,  Henry's  most  faithful  adherent, 
was  secretly  assassinated,1  and  Gregory,  on  account  of  his 
intimacy  with  Matilda,  who  bestowed  her  wealth  on  the 
church,  was  accused  by  his  enemies  of  the  crime.  The  ac- 
cusation of  an  improper  intercourse  between  him  and  Matilda 
is,  there  is  no  doubt,  false;  Gregory's  natural  inclinations 
rendered  him  no  admirer  of  the  sex,  nor  could  any  tempta- 
tion have  induced  him  to  cast  the  slightest  stain  on  his  sacred 
character.  Superstitious  zeal  and  piety  bound  Matilda  to  his 
cause,  and  he  fully  appreciated  the  value  of  so  powerful  an 
adherent. 

Henry  now  entreated  Matilda  to  intercede  in  his  behalf, 
and  Gregory,  at  first  surprised  at  his  penitence  when  backed 
by  a  body  of  armed  partisans,  quickly  understood  his  posi- 
tion, and  assumed  the  greatest  severity,  commanding  him 
to  come  alone  and  as  a  penitent  to  Canossa.  Henry  obeyed, 
and  was  allowed  to  enter  the  castle.  The  gates  closed  be- 
hind him,  and  for  three  days  and  three  nights  he  remained 
bareheaded  and  barefoot,  without  food,  exposed  in  a  woolen 
garment  to  the  severe  cold,  between  the  double  walls  of  the 
fort,  until  the  pope,  moved  by  the  earnest  supplications  of 
those  around  him,  especially  by  those  of  Matilda,  called  him 
into  his  presence,  and  released  him  from  the  interdict,  on 

1  At  Antwerp,  A.D.  1076.  The  young  Count  Dietrich  of  Holland  has  been 
accused  of  this  murder,  because,  on  the  death  of  Gottfried,  he  took  possession 
of  Holland,  of  which  his  uncle  had  been  deprived. 


THE    FRANCONIAN,   SALIC   EMPERORS  451 

condition  of  his  leaving  to  him  the  final  settlement  of  affairs 
in  Germany,  and  of  not  resuming  the  title  of  emperor  until 
permission  was  granted  so  to  do.  A  solemn  mass  was  then 
performed,  and  Gregory,  taking  the  holy  wafer  into  his 
hands,  broke  it  in  half,  saying,  "If  the  crimes  of  which  you 
accused  me  at  Worms  be  true,  may  the  host  that  I  now  eat 
cause  me  instantly  to  die."  He  then  swallowed  it,  and  turn- 
ing to  the  emperor,  said,  "Now  eat  the  other  half,  and  make 
a  similar  protestation  of  your  innocence  of  the  charges  I 
make  against  you."  Henry  refused,  and  after  undergoing 
every  species  of  humiliation  was  dismissed  by  the  triumphant 
pope. 

The  Italians,  indignant  at  his  weak  and  cowardly  con- 
duct, now  openly  deserted  him.  Unable  to  endure  their 
scorn,  he  resolved  to  break  the  oath  he  had  just  taken,  and 
shut  up  Gregory  so  closely  in  the  castle  of  Canossa  as  effect- 
ually to  put  a  stop  to  his  further  progress  to  Augsburg  or  his 
return  to  Rome;  at  the  same  time  the  interdicted  bishops1 
and  Henry's  partisans  among  the  German  laity,  among 
whom  Eberhard,  Graf  of  Nellenburg,  may  be  chiefly  distin- 
guished, flocked  beneath  his  standard. 

CXLIV.    The  Papal  Kings 

THE  German  princes,  meanwhile,  vainly  awaited  the 
arrival  of  the  pope.  At  length  came  the  news  of  Henry's 
unexpected  re-establishment,  and  Rudolf,  yielding  at  once 
to  the  press  of  circumstances,  and  to  his  ambition,  threw  off 
his  allegiance,  and  caused  himself  to  be  proclaimed  emperor 
at  Mayence,  where  he  was  crowned  by  the  archbishop.  The 
citizens  of  Mayence,  Henry's  partisans,  viewed  the  ceremony 
for  some  time  in  enforced  silence,  but  a  quarrel  breaking  out 
during  the  tournament  that  followed,  a  general  rise  took 

1  Among  them,  Benno  of  Osnabruck  particularly  distinguished  himself  as 
Henry's  most  faithful  friend  and  counselor.  He  had  also  done  penance  at 
Canossa,  but  on  a  different  occasion.  Vide  Moser's  History  of  Osnabruck. 
Another  Benno,  bishop  of  Meissen,  favored  the  papal  party. 


452  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

place,  and,  after  a  desperate  affray  between  them  and  the 
Swabian  troops,  Rudolf  was  compelled  to  quit  the  city;  he 
then  proceeded  to  Worms,  with  the  intention  of  securing 
himself  within  the  fort,  but  found  the  city  gates  closed 
against  him.  This  was  the  prelude  to  a  general  struggle 
throughout  Germany  between  his  party  and  that  of  Henry, 
which  was  rendered  the  more  desperate  by  the  refusal  of  the 
interdicted  bishops  of  Henry's  party  to  cede  their  bishoprics 
to  the  bishops  who  had  been  nominated  to  supersede  them  by- 
Gregory.  Henry  found  numerous  adherents  in  the  moun- 
tains, and  although  "Welf  had  seized  the  passes,  and  laid  the 
country  of  the  Grisons,  where  the  emperor's  party  was  up- 
held by  Dietmar,  bishop  of  Chur,  waste,  Sieghart,  the  pa- 
triarch of  Aglar  (Aquileia),  opened  Carniola  to  him;  Mar- 
quardt,  the  son  of  the  lately  expelled  duke,  Adalbero,  drove 
Berthold  of  Zahringen  out  of  Carinthia.  Henry  also  found 
an  ally  in  Wratislaw  of  Bohemia,  and  received  great  acces- 
sions to  his  party  from  Welf's  numerous  enemies  among 
the  Bavarian  nobility.  On  reaching  Ulm,  he.  held  a  public 
court,  and  put  Rudolf  and  his  adherents  out  of  the  ban  of 
the  empire. 

The  whole  of  Germany  was  divided  into  two  parties,  that 
of  the  emperor  and  that  of  St.  Peter,  which  gave  rise  to  the 
great  division  in  the  German  nation  which,  at  a  later  period, 
attained  such  melancholy  celebrity  as  the  strife  between  the 
Welfs  and  the  "Waiblinger,  or  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines. 
Swabia,  where  the  people  fluctuated  between  the  duke  and 
the  emperor,  was  in  uproar.  The  nobility  and  the  bishops 
favored  both  sides ;  the  cities  and  free  cantons  all  pronounced 
in  favor  of  the  emperor.  In  Augsburg,  Mathias  Corsang 
preached  against,  and  Geroch  in  favor  of,  the  pope;  the  lat- 
ter was  driven  by  the  citizens  out  of  the  town.  "Wurzburg 
made  a  desperate  defense  against  Rudolf,  and  twelve  thou- 
sand peasants  from  the  cantons  swelled  the  ranks  of  the  im- 
perial army.  Franconia,  A.D.  1078,  was  laid  waste,  and  be- 
came the  seat  of  war.  A  pitched  battle  was  fought  between 
the  contending  parties  near  Melrichstadt,  in  which  the  vie- 


THE   FRANCONIAN,   SALIC   EMPERORS  453 

tory  remained  undecided,  one  wing  of  the  imperial  army, 
commanded  by  Henry,  routing  the  enemy,  while  the  same 
part  was  performed  on  the  other  side  by  Rudolf's  Saxon 
adherents,  headed  by  Otto  of  Nordheim.  Siegfried  of  May- 
en  ce,  the  wicked  bishop  of  Worms,  and  the  papal  legate,  fell 
into  Henry's  hands ;  Wezilo  of  Magdeburg  was  killed  dur- 
ing his  flight.  The  brave  Eberhard  of  Nellenburg  and  the 
Swabian  peasants,  were,  on  the  other  hand,  cut  to  pieces  by 
the  Saxons ;  a  dreadful  fate  awaited  every  peasant  who  was 
taken  prisoner  by  the  nobles,  who  had  resolved,  at  whatever 
price,  to  crush  these  dangerous  defenders  of  liberty. 

For  a  while  either  party  rested.  Berthold  of  Zahringen 
died  of  grief,  A.D.  1078,  for  the  losses  he  had  suffered  in  this 
battle,  into  which  he  had  been  driven  against  his  will.  His 
son,  Berthold,  favored  Rudolf,  whose  daughter,  Agnes,  he 
married.  Rudolf  was,  nevertheless,  superseded  in  the  duke- 
dom of  Swabia  by  Frederick  of  Hohenstaufen,  a  Swabian 
noble,  who  had  given  striking  proofs  of  fidelity  to  the  em- 
peror, and  by  whom  he  was  further  raised  by  the  gift  of 
his  daughter  Agnes  in  marriage.  Frederick's  name  was  von 
Biiren,  until  the  building  of  the  castle  of  Staufen  (on  which 
the  whole  glory  of  the  German  empire  was  destined  to  rest), 
at  the  outlet  of  the  Swabian  Alp. 

Gregory,  greatly  disconcerted  by  this  turn  in  affairs, 
temporized,  in  order  to  see  on  which  side  victory  would  de- 
clare herself.  The  Saxon»,  irritated  by  this  conduct,  and, 
moreover,  incited  by  Gebhard,  archbishop  of  Salzburg,  who 
had  been  deposed  by  Henry,  addressed  three  letters  to  him, 
which  received  the  nickname  of  "the  cock-crowing,"  being 
intended,  like  the  voice  of  St.  Peter's  cock,  to  move  his  suc- 
cessor to  remorse.  A  whole  year  passed  in  fruitless  negotia- 
tions. In  the  winter  of  1080,  Henry  again  attacked  Rudolf, 
and  a  second  engagement  took  place  near  Fladenheim  in 
Thuringia,  in  which  the  invincible  Otto  of  Nordheim  again 
proved  victorious.  This  success  decided  Gregory  in  Rudolf's 
favor,  and  he  not  only  confirmed  him  in  the  title  he  had 
usurped,  but,  as  the  genuine  crown  jewels  of  Charlemagne, 


454  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

and  of  Otto  the  Great,  were  in  Henry's  possession,  also  pre- 
sented him  with  a  new  diadem,  for  which  he  was  to  hold 
the  empire  as  a  papal  fief :  the  inscription  it  bore  ran  thus, 
"Petra  dedit  Petro,  Petrus  diadema  Rudolpho."  He  then 
again  solemnly  excommunicated  Henry,  who,  on  the  other 
hand,  convoked  a  German  concilium  at  Brixen,  by  which 
Gregory  was  for  a  second  time  deposed,  and  the  archbishop 
of  Ravenna  was  nominated  in  his  stead,  as  Pope  Clement 
III.,  A.D.  1080. 

During  the  same  year,  Henry  invaded  Saxony,  burned 
Erfurt,  and  a  third  engagement  took  place  near  Grona  on 
the  Elster,  in  the  great  plain  lying  between  Merseburg  and 
Leipzig,  famous  for  the  victory  gained  by  Henry  the  Fowler 
over  the  Hungarians,  and,  at  a  later  period,  the  scene  of 
many  a  hard-fought  battle.  Otto  of  Nordheim  was  again 
victorious ;  Rudolf  was  mortally  wounded,  and  in  the  strug- 
gle was  deprived  of  his  right  hand  by  Gottfried,  a  cousin  of 
Gottfried  the  Hunchback,  whom  he  succeeded  in  the  duke- 
dom of  Lower  Lothringia;  he  afterward  acquired  great 
celebrity  under  the  name  of  Bouillon  his  maternal  inheri- 
tance. When  dying,  Rudolf  exclaimed  as  he  looked  at  his 
mutilated  limb,  "This  is  the  hand  by  which  I  swore  alle- 
giance to  Henry."  He  was  buried  with  regal  honors  at 
Merseburg.  On  the  capture  of  this  city  shortly  after  by 
Henry,  he  was  advised  to  destroy  his  tomb,  to  which  he 
replied,  ' '  Would  to  God  that  all  my  enemies  were  as  splen- 
didly entombed. ' ' 

The  death  of  Rudolf  left  his  party  without  a  leader,  and 
rendered  their  late  victory  useless.  Henry  gained  daily  fresh 
adherents,  and  was  ere  long  enabled  to  leave  the  conduct  of 
the  war  in  Germany  to  Frederick  of  Hohenstaufen,  and  to 
visit  Italy  in  person,  for  the  purpose  of  humbling  his  old  an- 
tagonist, Gregory.  He  quickly  crossed  the  Alps,  overthrew 
Matilda's  party  near  Parma,  and  pushed  on  to  Rome,  to 
which  he  laid  siege  for  three  years  without  success;  at 
length,  Wiprecht  von  Groitsch,  a  Saxon  knight,  mounted 
the  walls,  and  took  the  city  by  storm,  A.D.  1083.  Gregory, 


THE  FRANCONIAN,  SALIC   EMPERORS  455 

who  had  shut  himself  within  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  se- 
cretly escaped  to  Salerno,  where  he  was  joyfully  received  by 
the  Normans.  Henry,  meanwhile,  placed  Clement  III.  in 
the  papal  chair,  and,  after  being  solemnly  crowned  emperor, 
returned  to  Germany.  Gregory  instantly  returned  to  Rome 
at  the  head  of  the  wild  Normans,  who  took  the  city,  and. 
deaf  to  his  remonstrances,  began  the  work  of  pillage.  The 
Romans,  rendered  desperate,  collected  in  vast  multitudes, 
drove  the  enemy  beyond  the  walls,  and  compelled  the  pope 
again  to  seek  shelter  in  Salerno,  where  he  died,  A.D.  1085. 
His  last  words  were  worthy  of  his  life:  "Because  I  have 
loved  justice,"  exclaimed  he,  "and  punished  injustice,  I  die 
an  exile!" 

In  Germany  the  Saxons  had  proclaimed  Hermann  of 
Luxemburg  their  king,  at  Eisleben.  He  received  the  nick- 
name of  "the  garlic  king,"  on  account  of  the  quantity  of 
garlic  that  grew  around  Eisleben.  He  was  a  man  of  mean 
intellect,  and  completely  subservient  to  Welf,  Berthold  von 
Zahringen,  and  Leopold  of  Austria.  Otto  von  Nordheim 
was  killed  by  a  fall  from  his  horse.  Welf  was  beaten  by 
Frederick  of  Swabia  at  Hochstadt,  and  Leopold  of  Austria 
and  Altmann,  bishop  of  Passau,  by  "Wratislaw  of  Bohemia 
at  Mauerberg.  The  free  peasantry  of  Friesland,  headed  by 
the  archbishop  of  Bremen,  fought  on  Henry's  side;  they 
were  put  to  the  rout  and  cut  to  pieces  by  the  Saxon  Count 
von  Mansfeld,  and  the  nobles  again  betrayed  the  hatred  they 
bore  them  by  leaving  their  dead  bodies  unburied  on  the  field. 

In  1085,  the  emperor  returned  from  his  Italian  expedition, 
and,  after  several  fruitless  attempts  at  negotiation,  again  in- 
vaded Saxony,  and  rapidly  reduced  his  opponents,  the  newly 
elected  king,  Hermann,  Hart  wig,  the  new  archbishop  of 
Magdeburg,  and  his  oldest  and  bitterest  enemy,  Bucco,  to 
submission.  The  two  latter  fled  into  Denmark,  and,  on 
Henry's  departure  from  Saxony,  instantly  returned  thither 
to  plot  anew  against  him.  In  1086,  Hermann  marched  upon 
"Wurzbuig,  in  the  design  of  uniting  his  forces  with  those  of 
"Welf  in  Upper  Saxony,  but  being  beaten  at  Pleichfeld  by 


456  THE  HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

the  emperor,  he  resigned  his  crown,  A.D.  1087,  from  a  con- 
viction of  the  inutility  of  opposition.  He  was  despised  even 
by  his  own  menials.  He  was  shortly  afterward  accidentally 
killed  by  a  woman,  when  storming  his  own  castle  by  night, 
in  order  to  test  the  vigilance  of  his  men. 

The  rebellious  Saxons,  who  were  still  headed  by  Ekbert 
von  Meissen,  and  by  Bucco,  bishop  of  Halberstadt,  pro- 
claimed the  former  king.  After  the  death  of  the  brave  Otto 
von  Nbrdheim,  Ekbert,  the  powerful  governor  of  the  Sla- 
vian  frontier,  the  descendant  of  the  house  of  Wettin  whose 
wealth  and  power  were  founded  on  rapine  and  oppression, 
was  Henry's  most  dangerous  opponent;  nor  did  he  present 
a  solitary  instance  of  the  boundless  ambition  of  the  Slavian 
Markgrafs,  whose  absolute  sovereignty  over  their  enslaved 
subjects  caused  them  insolently  to  grasp  at  the  imperial 
crown.  But  his  attempt  proved  vain;  "Welf,  actuated  by 
jealousy,  abandoned  him  in  order  to  win  for  himself  a  king- 
dom in  the  south  of  Italy.  He  married  his  youthful  son  to 
the  aged  Countess  Matilda,  in  the  hope  of  annexing  her  pos- 
sessions in  Lornbardy  to  Bavaria.  On  the  death  of  Gregory, 
his  party  elected  Victor  III  ,  and,  on  his  death,  Urban  II., 
pope.  Clement  III.  was  expelled;  Gregory's  plans  were 
carried  out;  and  the  emperor  was  continually  excommu- 
nicated. Henry  suffered  a  fresh  defeat  at  the  castle  of 
Gleichen  in  Thuringia,  not  vrithstanding  which  fortune  fa 
vored  him.  Bucco  was  surprised  and  assassinated  by  the 
citizens  of  Goslar,  and  Ekbert  was  killed  by  the  servants  of 
the  Princess  Matilda  (Henry's  sister,  the  abbess  of  Quedlin- 
berg,  a  woman  of  great  power  and  influence),  who  discov- 
ered him  in  a  mill,  A.D.  1088.  Berthold,  the  son  of  Rudolf, 
also  died,  and  "Welf,  discontented  with  the  Countess  Matilda, 
who  had  bestowed  her  rich  possessions  on  the  pope,  entreat- 
ing for  peace,  the  empire  once  more  tasted  its  blessings,  A.D. 
1093.  The  contending  parties  retained  their  former  posses- 
sions, "Welf  remaining  duke  of  Bavaria,  Magnus,  duke  of 
Saxony,  Frederick  von  Staufen,  duke  of  Swabia,  Berthold 
von  Zahringen,  duke  of  Upper  Aleniannia,  or  Switzerland, 


THE   FBANCONIAN,  SALIC    EMPERORS  457 

Ludolf,  duke  of  Carinthia.  Gottfried  de  Bouillon,  duke  of 
Lower  Lothringia,  while  the  Margrave  Udo  retained  Bran- 
denhurg,  the  Margrave  Leopold,  Austria,  and  the  Land- 
grave Louis,  Thuringia.  Hermann,  a  nephew  of  Berthold 
von  Zahringen,  was  nominated  to  the  Margraviate  of  Baden, 
and  the  important  march  of  Meissen  was  bestowed  upon  the 
gallant  Wiprecht  von  Groitsch,  who  was,  moreover,  con- 
firmed in  the  possession  of  the  Lausitz,  which  he  had  seized 
with  the  aid  of  Bohemia.  "Wratislaw  of  Bohemia  was  raised 
to  the  dignity  of  king,  and  his  brother  Conrad  was  created 
Margrave  of  Moravia. 

Boleslaw  of  Poland  also  took  the  title  of  king,  and  made 
the  important  acquisition  of  Pomerania.  Cruco,  prince  of 
the  Rugii,  after  besieging  Buthue  (the  son  of  the  unfortunate 
Gottschalk,  who  had  attempted  the  restoration  of  the  king- 
dom of  the  Obotrites),  in  Plon,  and  causing  him  to  be  mur- 
dered, fell  himself  by  the  hand  of  Buthue's  brother,  the 
Christian  Henry.  Cruco's  beautiful  wife,  Slavina,  who  was 
deeply  enamored  of  the  youthful  Henry,  entered  into  the 
plot,  and  Cruco  was  deprived  of  his  head  at  the  banquet 
table,  by  a  single  stroke  of  his  adversary's  sword,  A.D.  1105. 
The  pagan  Slavi  united  and  made  a  determined  resistance 
against  Henry  on  the  one  side,  who,  as  the  vassal  of  the 
Saxon  duke  Magnus,  received  his  aid,  and  against  the  Poles 
on  the  other.  Henry  gained  a  decisive  victory  at  Smilow, 
and  another  at  the  mouth  of  the  Trave,  A.D.  1106.  Pome- 
rania was  annexed  to  Poland. — In  Denmark,  Sueno  the  Pious 
had  been  succeeded  by  his  son,  Canute  the  Holy,  who  pre- 
served peace  with  Germany.  His  opposition  to  the  pretend- 
ers to  the  imperial  crown,  and  his  severity  toward  his 
subjects,  caused  them  to  revolt.  He  was  besieged  and  as- 
sassinated in  a  church,  whither  he  had  fled  for  refuge, 
A.D.  1086.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Olaf,  and, 
in  1095,  by  his  second  brother,  Erich  Evegod.  Charles, 
the  son  of  Canute,  fled  into  Germany,  and  was  created 
Count  of  Flanders.  His  virtues  caused  him,  at  a  later 
period,  to  share  hip  father's  fate.  He  was  murdered  by 
GERMANY.  VOL.  L— 2f 


458  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

his  faithless  vassals.      Canute  and  Charles  were  canonized 
as  martyrs. 

All  opposition  had  now  ceased  within  the  empire;  the 
pope,  Urban  II. ,  alone  proved  refractory,  and  Henry,  in 
order  to  punish  his  insolence,  once  more  appeared  in  Italy. 
Matilda's  army  was  speedily  vanquished,  and  Clement  III. 
reinstated  in  his  dignity.  Henry  then  returned  to  Germany, 
leaving  his  son  Conrad  at  the  head  of  affairs  in  Italy.  This 
young  man  was  incited  to  rebel  against  his  parent  by  the 
Countess  Matilda,  the  ex-pope  Urban,  and  Roger  of  Sicily, 
who  bestowed  upon  him  the  hand  of  his  daughter,  lolanta. 
Love,  ambition,  the  dread  of  being  excommunicated,  and  of 
forfeiting  the  imperial  crown  by  fidelity  to  his  father,  led  to 
this  rash  and  guilty  determination,  and,  in  1095,  he  caused 
himself  to  be  solemnly  crowned  at  Milan.  His  father,  after 
vainly  attempting  to  win  him  from  his  purpose,  disinherited 
him,  and  he  was  constrained  to  limit  his  ambition  to  Italy, 
where  he  was  at  the  mercy  of  his  adherents,  who  acted  solely 
with  a  view  to  their  own  aggrandizement.  The  conscious- 
ness of  his  weakness  and  his  remorse  for  his  guilty  conduct 
brought  him  early  to  the  grave,  A.D.  1101. 

CXLV.    The  Crusades 

IT  was  about  this  period  that  an  immense  movement, 
caused  by  the  agitation  of  men's  minds,  took  place  through- 
out Europe,  and  produced  a  second  and  enormous  migration. 
Fired  by  religious  enthusiasm,  countless  multitudes  collected 
f rom  various  parts  of  Europe,  in  order  to  combat  the  infidels, 
and  in  these  crusades  the  spirit  of  the  Middle  Ages  stood 
fully  developed,  freed  from  the  petty  feuds  that  marked  the 
times. 

As  early  as  the  reign  of  the  Ottos,  pilgrimages  to  the 
holy  sepulcher  at  Jerusalem  had  become  frequent ;  a  black 
garment,  a  long  staff,  a  broad-brimmed  hat  ornamented  with 
the  mussel  shells  found  on  the  coasts  of  Palestine,  and  a 
rosary  from  Jerusalem,  formed  the  garb  worn  by  the  pil- 


THE   FRANCONIAN,   SALIC    EMPERORS  459 

grims.  The  Arabs,  the  possessors  of  the  holy  city,  respected 
these  peaceable  wayfarers,  and  granted  them  permission  .to 
build  churches  and  a  hospital1  in  honor  of  John  the  Baptist. 
The  Arabian  empire  was,  at  that  period,  on  the  brink  of  de- 
struction, and  the  caliphate  was  divided.  The  Ommaijadae 
reigned  in  Spain,  the  Fatimites  in  Egypt,  and  the  Abassidse 
at  Bagdad;  the  two  last  dynasties  had  already  fallen  be- 
neath the  rule  of  the  Turks,  who  had  at  first  served  under 
them  as  mercenary  troops,  whose  sultans  acted  in  the  same 
capacity  to  the  caliph  as  the  major-domo  to  the  kings  of 
France.  The  great  affluence  of  Christian  pilgrims  roused 
the  jealousy  of  the  Jews,  who  until  now  had  monopolized 
the  whole  of  Eastern  commerce,  which  they  feared  might 
gradually  pass  into  the  hands  of  the  Christians.  The  suspi- 
cion of  their  having  persuaded  Hakim,  the  caliph  of  Egypt, 
to  destroy  the  church  erected  over  the  holy  sepulcher,  and  to 
expell  all  the  Christians  from  Jerusalem  in  1010,  occasioned 
a  general  persecution  of  the  Jews  in  France.  Daher,  the  son 
of  Hakim,  restoring  matters  to  their  former  state,  and  insur- 
ing the  safety  of  the  pilgrims  and  the  freedom  of  commerce, 
the  holy  sepulcher  became  an  object  of  still  deeper  interest, 
and  the  number  of  pilgrims  greatly  increased.  St.  Coloman- 
nus,  a  Scotch  pilgrim,  being  hanged  in  company  with  two 
robbers,  at  Stockerau  in  Austria,  the  tree  on  which  he  hung 
began  to  blossom,  and  the  people,  recognizing  him  by  that 
sign  as  a  man  of  God,  carried  him  to  Molk  and  treated  his 
remains  with  the  greatest  honor.  The  fame  of  this  pilgrim 
was  henceforward  reflected  upon  all  who  bore  the  staff,  and 
before  long  not  only  the  commonalty,  but  princes  also  be- 
came humble  wanderers.  Robert  of  Normandy  was  the 
first  who  visited  Palestine,  A.D.  1033.  He  was  followed  by 
Litbert,  bishop  of  Kamerich,  A.D.  1054,  and  by  St.  Helena  of 
Sweden,  A.D.  1060.  The  first  great  expedition  was  under- 
taken, A.D.  1064,  by  Siegfried,  archbishop  of  Mayence,  and 
the  bishops  of  Bamberg,  Ratisbon,  and  Utrecht,  at  the  head 

1  A  hospital  for  pilgrims  was  built  as  early  as  the  ninth  century  on  Mount 
Cenis,  and  another  during  the  following  century  on  Mount  St.  Bernard. 


460  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

of  seven  thousand  pilgrims,  of  whom  two  thousand  alone  re- 
turned. Their  path  was  surrounded  with  danger.  On  one 
occasion  they  were  attacked  by  a  body  of  twelve  thousand 
Arabs,  one  of  whose  sheiks  came  into  the  house  in  which  the 
bishops  had  taken  refuge,  and  attempted  to  molest  them, 
upon  which  Gunther,  the  gigantic  bishop  of  Bamberg,  felled 
him  to  the  ground  with  one  blow.  The  Christians,  after  a 
valiant  defense,  were  at  length  rescued  from  their  perilous 
situation  by  a  tribe  of  friendly  Arabs.  Gunther  died  while  on 
his  return  to  Germany.  *  Altmann  performed  the  pilgrimage 
on  foot,  before  his  elevation  to  the  bishopric  of  Passau,  and 
Robert  the  Friscian  also,  in  order  to  do  penance  for  his  sins, 
A.D.  1082. 

On  the  advance  of  the  Turks  upon  Jerusalem,  of  which 
they  took  possession,  a  dreadful  persecution  commenced,  A.D. 
1086,  which  roused  the  whole  of  Europe.  Rage  and  conster- 
nation filled  every  bosom,  and  one  idea,  that  of  invading  the 
Holy  Land,  and  of  freeing  the  sepulcher  from  pollution  by 
dint  of  arms,  pervaded  all  classes.  The  spirit  infused  into 
the  church  by  Gregory  VII.  was  one  great  motive  of  this 
general  enthusiasm,  while  the  example  of  the  Spaniards  in- 
fluenced the  whole  body  of  Christian  chivalry.  The  valiant 
descendants  of  the  Visigoths  had,  since  the  commencement 
of  the  eighth  century,  been  engaged  in  ceaseless  warfare 
with  the  Moors,  at  first  in  defense  of  their  liberty  and  their 
religion,  and  at  a  later  period  for  the  recovery  of  Spain.  It 
was  exactly  at  this  conjuncture  that  Henry,  count  of  Bur- 
gundy, the  son-in-law  of  Alfonso,  king  of  Leon,  the  most 
powerful  of  the  petty  Christian  monarchs  in  Spam,  con- 
quered Portugal.  The  appearance  of  a  remarkable  French 
pilgrim,  Peter  of  Amiens,  named  the  Hermit,  however, 
chiefly  contributed  to  hasten  the  event.  On  his  return  from 
Palestine  with  a  petition  from  the  persecuted  patriarch  of 
Jerusalem,  he  asserted  that  he  had  also  been  commissioned 
by  Christ  himself  to  save  the  holy  sepulcher.  Attired  in  his 

1  Marianus  Scotua. 


THE    FRANCONIAN,   SALIC    EMPERORS  461 

travel-soiled  pilgrim's  garb,  and  mounted  on  an  ass,  having 
in  one  hand  the  letter,  in  the  other  a  crucifix,  he  passed 
through  France  and  Italy,  summoning,  with  enthusiastic 
eloquence,  people  of  every  class  and  of  every  nation  to  unite 
against  the  infidels.  Multitudes  obeyed.  Urban  II.  placed 
himself,  as  pope,  at  the  head  of  the  faithful,  and,  not  ventur- 
ing to  appear  in  Germany,  convoked  a  great  meeting  of  the 
clerg}T,  first  at  Piacenza  in  Italy,  and  afterward  at  Clermont 
in  France,  where  he  addressed  the  people  in  a  broad  green 
field,  graphically  depicturing  the  sufferings  of  the  church  in 
the  East,  the  desecration  of  the  sacred  precincts,  the  tem- 
ple converted  into  a  Turkish  stable,  the  holy  sepulcher  of 
the  Saviour  defiled  by  dogs,  his  followers  scorned,  tortured, 
and  slain;  and  concluded  by  divulging  the  command  from 
heaven  to  revenge  the  cruelties  practiced  by  the  infidels,  and 
to  rescue  the  sanctuary.  Scarcely  had  he  ceased,  than  a 
deafening  shout  of  "It  is  the  will  of  God!  it  is  the  will  of 
God!"  arose  from  the  innumerable  throng,  and  numbers 
dedicated  themselves  to  the  service  of  Christ,  in  sign  of 
which  they  wore  a  red  cross  on  one  shoulder. 

The  lower  classes,  who  in  France  were  suffering  from  a 
famine,  occasioned  by  the  failure  of  the  crops  for  several 
successive  years,  and  who,  moreover,  may  have  beheld,  in 
this  general  arming  in  honor  of  God,  a  means  of  escaping 
from  the  tyranny  of  the  nobility,  were  first  seized  by  the 
spirit  of  religious  enthusiasm;  and  shortly  afterward,  if  not 
at  the  same  time,  every  serf  who  volunteered  to  serve  in  the 
Holy  Land  was  declared  free  and  capable  of  bearing  arms. 
The  first  armament,  consisting  of  fifteen  thousand  men, 
marched,  under  the  guidance  of  the  knight  Walther  de  Pe- 
rejo,  and  his  nephew,  Walther  Sensavehor,  or  Havenought 
(who  had  spent  the  whole  of  his  fortune  on  the  expedition), 
from  the  north  of  France,  A.D.  1096,  and  solemnized  Easter 
festival  at  Cologne;  on  reaching  Hungary,  disputes  arose 
concerning  their  supplies,  and  they  were  almost  entirely  cut 
to  pieces  in  Bulgaria.  The  elder  "Walther  died ;  the  younger 
reached  Constantinople  with  the  remnant  of  his  followers. 


462  THE    HISTORY    OF   GERMANY 

Peter  the  Hermit  followed  with  forty  thousand  men,  among 
whom  were  several  Germans,  took  Semlin  by  storm,  forced 
his  way  through  the  Bulgarians,  was  attacked  and  beaten  by 
them  at  Nissa,  and,  after  losing  ten  thousand  men,  appeared 
before  the  gates  of  Constantinople  with  the  remainder  of  the 
pilgrims,  bearing  green  palm  branches  in  their  hands. 

The  spirit  of  religious  fanaticism,  the  seeds  of  which  had 
been  so  zealously  sown  by  Peter  the  Hermit,  spread,  mean- 
while, throughout  Germany.  Signs  were  beheld  in  the 
heavens,  and  it  was  currently  reported  that  Charlemagne 
had  risen  from  his  grave,  in  order  to  place  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  crusaders.  Gottschalk,  a  priest  from  the  Pfalz, 
marched  with  fifteen  thousand  men  into  Hungary,  and,  after 
laying  the  country  waste,  had  the  stupidity  to  allow  himself 
to  be  persuaded  by  Kolmany,  the  Hungarian  king,  to  deliver 
up  his  arms,  on  condition  of  receiving  a  free  passage,  which 
was  no  sooner  complied  with  than  the  faithless  Hungarians 
attacked  and  cut  to  pieces  the  whole  of  the  defenseless  Ger- 
mans, at  Meszburg  (Mosony?).  This  expedition  was  suc- 
ceeded by  another  of  still  greater  magnitude,  which,  pro- 
ceeding from  France,  passed  through  Germany,  like  the 
rude  Lawine,  gaining  strength  and  volume  on  its  course. 
Without  a  leader  to  guide  its  movements,  this  senseless  mul- 
titude followed  in  the  direction  taken  by  a  goose  and  a  goat 
which  were  driven  in  advance.  "William,  surnamed  the  Car- 
penter, a  French  knight,  was  the  only  person  of  any  note 
among  the  number;  but  when  the  Germans  began  to  join 
them,  Volkmar  the  priest,  and  the  Count  Emicho  von  Lei- 
ningen,  who  was  influenced  by  remorse  for  the  sins  of  his 
youth,  placed  themselves  at  the  head  of  this  fresh  body  of 
crusaders,  who,  acting  on  the  notion  that  the  infidels  dwell- 
ing in  Europe  should  be  exterminated  before  those  in  Asia 
should  be  attacked,  murdered  twelve  thousand  Jews.  In 
Treves,  many  of  these  unfortunate  men,  driven  to  despair, 
laid  violent  hands  on  their  children  and  on  themselves,  and 
multitudes  embraced  Christianity,  from  which  they  lapsed 
the  moment  the  peril  had  passed.  Two  hundred  Jews  fled 


THE   FRANCON1AN,   SALIC    EMPERORS  463 

from  Cologne  and  took  refuge  in  boats ;  they  were  overtaken 
and  slain.  In  Mayence,  the  archbishop,  Rudhart,  took  them 
under  his  protection,  and  gave  them  the  great  hall  of  his 
castle  for  an  asylum ;  the  pilgrims,  nevertheless,  forced  their 
way  in,  and  murdered  seven  hundred  of  them  in  the  arch- 
bishop's presence.  At  Spires  the  Jews  valiantly  defended 
themselves.  At  Worms  they  all  committed  suicide.  At 
Magdeburg  the  archbishop,  Ruprecht,  amused  himself  by 
attacking  them  during  the  celebration  of  the  feast  of  taber- 
nacles, and  by  seizing  their  property.  The  pilgrim  band, 
which  is  said  to  have  consisted  of  two  hundred  thousand 
souls,  chiefly  women,  priests,  and  unarmed  rabble,  advanced 
into  Hungary,  but  suddenly,  while  engaged  in  the  siege  of 
Meszburg,  was,  without  any  known  cause,  seized  with  a 
panic,  put  to  the  rout,  and  almost  entirely  cut  to  pieces. 
Emicho  fled,  covered  with  shame,  to  his  native  country. 
But,  notwithstanding  this  disaster,  part  of  the  pilgrims 
reached  Constantinople  by  other  roads  through  Italy. 

A  number  of  Italians  had  also  set  off  for  the  same  place 
by  sea;  the  republics  of  Pisa,  Genoa  and  Venice  favoring 
the  crusade  from  motives  of  commercial  advantage,  as  well 
as  from  piety ;  and  thus  by  degrees  an  army  of  one  hundred 
thousand  pilgrims  collected  beneath  the  walls  of  Constanti- 
nople, under  the  banner  of  Peter  the  Hermit.  The  emperor 
Alexius,  weary  of  supplying  their  wants,  sent  them  over  to 
Asia,  where  Peter  intended  to  have  awaited  the  arrival  of 
the  great  body  of  knights,  which  was  to  have  quickly  fol- 
owed  on  his  track ;  but  the  French,  impatient  for  war,  and 
greedy  of  booty,  made  predatory  incursions  on  their  own  ac- 
count into  the  Turkish  territory ;  and  the  Germans,  animated 
by  their  example,  pillaged  the  country  and  garrisoned  the 
fort  of  Xerigordon,  where  they  were  ere  long  surrounded 
by  the  Turks,  to  whom  they  were  betrayed  by  their  leader, 
Reinold,  and  three  thousand  of  them  slain.  The  French 
and  Italian  pilgrims  were  also  cut  to  pieces,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  three  thousand,  who  made  such  a  valiant  defense  in 
an  ancient  fort  that  the  Greeks  spared  their  lives  at  Peter's 


464  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

earnest  request.    Peter  escaped,  but  Walther  Sensavehor  was 
slain. 

This  unsuccessful  attempt  of  the  lower  orders  among  the 
people  was  succeeded  by  a  much  more  brilliant  armament, 
composed  of  chivalry,  and  led  by  princes.  Godfred,  duke 
of  Lower  Lothringia  (Brabant),  surnamed  Bouillon,  from 
his  castle  of  that  name,  the  ancient  ally  of  the  emperor, 
Henry  IV.,  and  the  successful  antagonist  of  Rudolf,  the 
pretender  to  the  crown,  raised  a  body  of  ten  thousand  horse 
and  seventy  thousand  infantry.  He  was  accompanied  by  his 
brothers,  Eustace  and  Baldwin,  his  cousin,  Baldwin  de  Bourg, 
Count  Baldwin  von  Hennegau,  etc. ;  besides  being  joined  by 
Count  Robert  of  Flanders,  the  son  of  the  Friscian,  afterward 
known  as  Robert  of  Jerusalem;  Hugh  de  Vermandois,  the 
brother  of  Philip,  king  of  France ;  Robert  Shortshank,  duke 
of  Normandy,  the  son  of  William  the  Conqueror;  and  the 
aged  one-eyed  Count  Raimund  of  Toulouse.  The  Nether- 
landers  under  Godfred  marched  in  excellent  order  and  un- 
molested through  Hungary,  while  the  French  took  the  route 
through  Italy,  A.D.  1096.  The  latter  were  joined  en  route 
by  the  fair-haired  Bohemund,  the  son  of  Robert  Guiscard, 
a  man  of  gigantic  stature,  and  by  his  cousin  Tancred,  the 
most  warlike  among  the  Normans  of  their  times.  Ademar, 
the  venerable  bishop  of  Puy,  accompanied  them  as  legate 
from  the  holy  see.  The  French  went  by  sea,  and  conse- 
quently were  the  first  to  reach  Greece,  where  Hugh  de  Ver- 
mandois no  sooner  landed  than  he  was  seized  and  thrown 
into  prison  by  the  emperor  Alexius,  who  only  restored  him 
to  liberty  on  condition  of  his  doing  homage  to  him  as  his 
liege  lord.  Alexius,  filled  with  inquietude  for  the  safety  of 
his  own  empire,  left  no  means  untried  to  effectuate  the  con- 
quest of  the  Holy  Land  in  his  own  name,  in  order  to  reduce 
it  to  its  former  state  of  dependence  as  a  province  of  the  an- 
cient eastern  empire.  Godfred,  on  his  arrival,  learned  with 
rage  and  astonishment  that  the  brother  of  the  French  mon- 
arch had  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Greek  emperor; 
but  quickly  perceiving  the  necessity  of  gaining  him  as  an 


THE  FRANCONIAN,   SALIC   EMPERORS  465 

ally,  he  submitted  to  the  same  ceremony,  and  his  example 
was  followed  by  all  the  other  princes.  Godfred  was  in  re- 
turn adopted  by  the  emperor  as  Caesar;  that  is,  as  his  son. 
The  whole  of  the  crusaders  (whose  numbers,  said  to  have 
amounted  to  six  hundred  thousand  men,  are  probably  exag- 
gerated) crossed  over  to  Asia,  and  found  the  country  around 
Nicaea  covered  with  the  yet  unburied  remains  of  their  un- 
fortunate predecessors.  Nicaea  was  taken  by  storm  with 
considerable  loss,  and  given  up  to  the  Greeks.  Here  the 
Normans  separated  from  the  main  body,  and  taking  a  line 
to  the  left,  again  divided,  in  order  the  more  conveniently  to 
procure  supplies;  in  this  condition  they  were  attacked  by 
the  Turks,1  and  with  great  difficulty  rescued  by  Godfred. 
Desert  tracts,  and  burning  wastes,  destructive  alike  to  the 
warriors  and  their  steeds,  now  obstructed  the  advance  of 
the  crusaders.  The  path  was  strewn  with  the  dying  and 
the  dead.  Numbers  of  the  pilgrims  turned  back  in  despair. 
Godfred  was  dreadfully  torn  by  a  bear,  from  whose  claws  he 
bravely  rescued  one  of  the  unarmed  pilgrims.  His  brother 
Baldwin,  who  had  been  joined  by  a  number  of  Dutch,  Fris- 
cians,  and  Flemish  pirates,  who  for  eight  years  had  infested 
the  Mediterranean,  marched  in  advance  of  the  main  army, 
and  took  the  important  town  of  Edessa,  where  he  was  met 
by  a  procession  of  Armenian  Christians,  bearing  crosses  and 
banners,  who,  filled  with  astonishment  at  his  prowess,  sank 
on  their  knees  before  him.  The  main  body  mean  while  reached 
the  celebrated  city  of  Antioch,  of  which,  thirteen  years  be- 
fore, the  Greek  emperor  had  been  deprived,  and  which  still 
retained  its  ancient  splendor.  Its  walls  long  resisted  the  un- 
taught valor  of  the  warriors  of  the  West,  three  hundred  thou- 
sand of  whom  are  said  to  have  laid  siege  to  it.  Hunger  and 
pestilence,  however,  gradually  diminished  their  number,  and, 
in  the  beginning  of  1098,  seven  hundred  horses  were  all  that 


1  A  great  number  of  ladies  who  accompanied  this  expedition  fell  with  the 
camp  into  the  hands  of  the  Turks.  Albert  von  Aix  observes  that  they  should 
instantly  have  adorned  themselves,  in  order  to  have  enslaved  their  captors  by 
their  beauty. 


466  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

remained  within  the  Christian  camp.  These  were  mounted 
by  seven  hundred  knights,  who  attacked  and  overcame  a 
body  of  the  enemy's  cavalry,  twenty-five  thousand  strong, 
and  captured  one  thousand  horses.  Godfred  continued  to 
fight  in  advance,  and  is  said,  on  one  occasion,  to  have  cut 
a  Turk  so  completely  in  half  with  a  downward  stroke  that, 
while  one  half  of  his  body  fell  to  the  ground,  the  other  was 
borne  away  by  his  horse.  The  Mahometans  made  great 
preparations  in  order  to  raise  the  siege  of  Antioch.  The 
means  of  retreating  upon  Constantinople  were  cut  off,  and 
the  Danish  prince  Sven  and  his  bride  Fiorina,1  the  daughter 
of  Duke  Eudo  of  Burgundy,  with  one  thousand  five  hundred 
Danish  knights,  were  cut  to  pieces.  The  great  sultan  of 
Bagdad  levied  the  whole  force  of  the  Mahometan  East, 
and  dispatched  his  vizier,  Kerbugha,  at  the  head  of  an  im- 
mense army,  to  the  relief  of  Antioch,  but,  before  his  arrival, 
the  city  was  betrayed  to  the  Christians,  in  the  June  of  1098. 
The  pilgrims  were  now  in  their  turn  suddenly  besieged  by 
Kerbugha,  whose  troops  covered  the  whole  country,  and 
rendered  it  impossible  for  them  to  bring  supplies  into  the 
already  famished  city.  The  distress  soon  became  unbear- 
able ;  and  numbers  of  the  pilgrims  secretly  let  themselves 
down  by  ropes  from  the  city  walls,  and  fled  to  the  sea-shore, 
spreading  a  report  that  the  city  was  already  lost,  and  induc- 
ing the  captains  of  the  Genoese  ships,  the  last  hope  of  the 
crusaders,  to  return  home ;  upon  which  the  emperor  Alexius, 
who  was  marching  to  their  relief,  in  order  to  take  possession 
of  Antioch  in  his  own  name,  also  turned  back.  The  situa- 
tion of  Godfred  and  the  pilgrims  now  appeared  desperate, 
hunger  daily  thinned  their  numbers,  and  the  survivors  wan- 
dered up  and  down  the  city,  wan,  weak,  and  spiritless;  but, 
just  when  they  were  driven  to  the  last  extremity,  a  priest  of 
Provence,  one  Peter  Barthelemy,  announced  that  the  apostle 
Andrew  had  appeared  to  him,  and  revealed  the  spot  in  An- 


1  She  intended  to  have  married  him  at  Jerusalem.     She  bravely  defended 
herself  to  the  last,  although  pierced  by  seven  arrows. 


THE   FRANCONIAN,  SALIC    EMPERORS  467 

tioch  where  the  real  holy  lance,  with  which  Christ  had  been 
pierced  when  hanging  on  the  cross,  lay  buried ;  that  they 
were  to  seek  for  it  and  to  bear  it  before  them  to  victory. 
The  rusted  head  of  a  lance  was  found  in  the  place  indicated, 
and  the  confidence  of  the  pilgrims  once  more  returned.  Peter 
the  Hermit  went  into  Kerbugha's  camp  and  threatened  him 
with  destruction,  unless  he  instantly  embraced  Christianity. 
Kerbugha  treated  him  as  a  mad  man,  and  being,  in  his  con- 
tempt of  the  pilgrims,  willing  to  spare  unnecessary  blood- 
shed, resolved,  instead  of  storming  the  city,  to  continue  the 
blockade.  While  he  was  carelessly  engaged  in  a  game  of 
chess,  the  crusaders  planted  a  black  banner  on  the  highest 
tower  in  Antioch,  and  marched  in  procession  out  of  the  gates, 
headed  by  the  bishop  Ademar,  bearing  on  high  the  holy  lance. 
They  advanced  in  battle  array  singing  hymns,  and  attacked 
the  Turks  with  such  fury  that  half  of  the  besiegers  were  al- 
ready put  to  the  rout  before  their  comrades  became  aware 
of  their  peril.  The  starving  Christians  took  the  immense 
camp,  killed  one  hundred  thousand  of  the  enemy,  flung 
themselves  upon  their  Turkish  horses,  and  pursued  the  fug- 
itives to  a  considerable  distance.  After  a  public  thanks- 
giving, Bohemund  was  created  Prince  of  Antioch,  and  it 
was  declared  to  the  emperor  Alexius  that  no  further  con- 
quests should  be  made  in  his  name,  unless  he  speedity  af- 
forded them  the  promised  aid.  Hugh  of  France  was  sent 
with  this  message  as  embassador  to  Constantinople ;  but  in- 
stead of  returning  to  the  camp,  proceeded  to  France,  being 
discontented  with  the  treatment  he  had  received  from  the 
rest  of  the  crusaders,  by  whom  he  was  held  in  slight  esteem. 
The  second  embassador,  Baldwin,  count  of  Hennegau,  was 
attacked  near  Nicaea  by  the  Turks,  and  all  traces  of  him 
were  lost. 

The  Mahometans,  terrified  at  this  unexpected  disaster, 
no  longer  opposed  the  advance  of  the  pilgrims,  who  were 
joyfully  greeted  by  the  Syrian  Christians;  and  the  Arabian 
emirs,  who  until  now  had  groaned  beneath  the  Turkish  yoke, 
offered  to  enter  into  a  friendly  alliance  with  them.  But  dis- 


4G8  THE    HISTORY   OF    GERMANY 

sension  broke  out  among  the  pilgrims  themselves.  Raimund 
of  Toulouse  envied  Bohemund  the  possession  of  Antioch,  and 
now,  rather  ungratefully  it  must  be  owned,  Peter  Barthelemy 
was  accused  of  having  invented  the  fable  of  the  holy  lance 
(which  was  now  said  to  be  a  common  bit  of  iron),  in  order 
to  answer  the  exigency  of  the  moment.  Peter,  in  order  to 
prove  his  innocence  and  the  authenticity  of  the  weapon,  un- 
derwent the  ordeal  by  fire;  with  the  lance  in  his  hand,  he 
ran  between  two  naming  piles  of  wood,  and,  although  he 
came  forth  again  alive,  died  shortly  of  the  effects.  A  strong 
re-enforcement,  among  which  were  Alain  Fergent,  duke  of 
Brittany,  and  Edgar  Atheling,  the  last  scion  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  dynasty,  here  joined  the  crusaders ;  a  remarkable  co- 
incidence, Robert,  the  son  of  William  the  Conqueror,  the 
destroyer  of  the  Saxon  race,  being  in  the  same  camp  and 
fighting  in  the  same  cause.  The  caliph  of  Egypt  sent  costly 
gifts  to  the  crusaders,  with  an  offer  of  permitting  the  free 
exercise  of  the  Christian  religion  in  Jerusalem.  He  would 
gladly,  with  the  aid  of  the  crusaders,  have  driven  the  dreaded 
Turks  out  of  Syria ;  but  the  crusaders  had  now  almost  reached 
the  termination  of  their  long  and  wearisome  pilgrimage,  and 
the  conquest  and  actual  possession  of  the  holy  sepulcher  were 
regarded  by  them  as  indispensable  duties.  The  emir  of  Trip- 
oli again  took  up  arms  and  was  defeated.  The  hermits  and 
the  ancient  Christians  descended  from  Mount  Lebanon  to  wel- 
come the  pilgrims.  Nicopolis  was  at  length  reached,  and  as 
every  one  was  anxious  to  be  the  first  to  behold  Jerusalem  on 
the  following  morning,  they  continued  their  march  during 
the  whole  night.  It  so  happened  that  an  eclipse  of  the  moon 
took  place  during  this  night,  which  caused  great  joy  among 
the  pilgrims,  who  beheld  in  it  an  omen  of  the  fall  of  the  Ma- 
hometan empire  (whose  emblem  is  the  crescent  moon).  At 
break  of  day  on  the  10th  of  June,  1099,  they  reached  the 
heights  of  Emaus,  and  suddenly  beheld  the  holy  city,  the 
long-wished-for  object  of  their  toil,  and  with  one  accord  sink- 
ing on  their  knees,  they  kissed  the  sacred  soil,  which  they 
only  ventured  to  tread  barefoot. 


THE   FRANCONIAN,  SALIC   EMPERORS  469 

The  greatest  difficulties  had  still  to  be  overcome.  The 
number  of  the  crusaders  had  diminished  to  one  thousand 
five  hundred  horse  and  twenty  thousand  foot;  the  country 
around  Jerusalem  was  an  arid  waste ;  the  city  was  strongly 
garrisoned,  and  the  harbor  of  Joppa,  where  a  Genoese  fleet 
had  just  landed  troops,  was  strictly  blockaded  by  the  Egyp- 
tians. All  communication  with  the  sea  was  consequently 
cut  off;  the  Genoese,  however,  abandoned  their  ships  and 
advanced  as  far  as  Jerusalem,  where  their  skill  and  handi- 
craft materially  assisted  the  knights  in  their  rough  attempts 
at  scaling  the  walls.  They  manufactured  different  machines, 
particularly  high  towers,  consisting  of  several  stories,  mounted 
on  wheels,  which  were  pushed  close  to  the  walls  upon  which 
the  warriors  were  to  mount.  Most  of  these  machines  were 
destroyed  by  the  inextinguishable  "Greek  fire."  The  pil- 
grims, in  their  enthusiasm,  now  recalled  the  fate  of  Jericho, 
and,  ranged  in  solemn  procession,  chanting  hymns,  marched 
around  the  city,  from  whose  walls  they  were,  meanwhile, 
treated  with  every  mark  of  indignity  by  the  garrison.  Peter 
the  Hermit  preached  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  and  the  city 
had  sustained  a  two  days'  storm,  when  a  knight,  clad  in 
white  armor,  was  beheld  standing  on  the  Mount  of  Olives, 
like  an  angel  of  God,  encouraging  them  to  battle  in  his 
cause. 

The  general  enthusiasm  now  rose  to  fury,  and  two 
brethren,  Ludolf  and  Engelbert,  closely  followed  by  Duke 
Godfred,  were  the  first  to  mount  the  battlements ;  and  the 
pilgrims  rushing  into  the  city,  a  deadly  struggle  took  place 
in  the  streets,  in  which  seventy  thousand  of  the  Mahome- 
tans were  slain.  The  Jews  were  burned  alive  in  their  syna- 
gogue; no  quarter  was  given.  Every  infidel,  of  whatever 
nation,  age,  or  sex,  was  mercilessly  killed.  In  the  midst  of 
this  disorder,  Godfred,  in  penitential  garb  and  with  unsan- 
daled  feet,  threw  himself  on  his  knees  before  the  holy  sepul- 
cher,  and  the  rest  of  the  crusaders,  imitating  his  example, 
threw  away  their  blood-stained  weapons,  and  chanting  peni- 
tential hymns,  marched  in  procession  through  streams  of 


4:70  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

blood  to  the  grave  of  the  Saviour  of  mankind.  Jerusalem 
was  taken  on  the  15th  of  July,  1099. * 

The  joy  of  united  Christendom  at  this  glorious  liberation 
of  the  holy  sepulcher  was  still  further  increased  by  the  dis- 
covery of  the  wooden  cross  on  which  Christ  had  suffered. 
This  cross  owed  its  first  discovery  to  St.  Helena,  the  mother 
of  Constantino  the  Great;  it  was  afterward  concealed  dur- 
ing times  of  danger,  and  ultimately  again  lost.  Godfred, 
the  faithful  hero  of  the  church,  was  unanimously  proclaimed 
king  of  Jerusalem;  but,  although  he  accepted  the  dignity, 
he  refused  to  wear  the  golden  diadem  that  was  offered  to 
him,  saying,  "that  it  was  not  for  him  to  wear  a  crown  of 
gold  in  the  place  where  the  Christ  had  worn  one  of  thorns." 
His  brother  Baldwin  became  prince  of  Edessa.  His  other 
brother,  Eustace,  returned  to  Lothringia.  Bobemund  was 
already  prince  of  Antioch ;  Tancred  became  count  of  Gali- 
lee. Raimund  of  Toulouse,  who  coveted  the  possession  of 
Antioch,  remained  in  Palestine,  and  aided  the  emperor 
Alexius  in  his  attempts  to  undermine  the  power  of  the  rest 
of  the  crusaders.  Robert  of  Normandy  returned  home,  and, 
falling  into  the  hands  of  his  faithless  brother,  Henry,  ended 
his  days  in  prison.  Robert  the  Friscian  also  returned  to  his 
native  country,  but,  while  engaged  in  a  feud,  fell  from  his 
horse  and  was  trodden  to  death.  Tola,  the  wife  of  Baldwin 
von  Hennegau,  who  had  disappeared,  made  a  pilgrimage  to 
Jerusalem,  and,  after  wandering  in  fruitless  search  of  him 
over  the  half  of  Asia,  reached  her  home  in  safety. 

After  giving  laws,  known  as  the  ordonnances  of  the  sepul- 
cher, to  his  new  kingdom,  Godfred  marched  against  his  near- 
est and  most  threatening  opponent,  the  caliph  of  Egypt,  whom, 
although  his  superior  in  numbers,  he  defeated  near  Ascalon, 
which,  but  for  the  treachery  of  Raimund,  would  also  have 
fallen  into  his  hands.  The  city  of  Arsuf,  on  the  sea-shore, 


1  William  of  Tyre  relates  in  cne  of  his  legends  that  all  the  spirits  of  the  cru- 
saders who  had  fallen  on  3ie  wey  appeared  in  the  city  on  this  occasion,  and 
fulfilled  their  vow  at  the  same  iame  with  their  living  comrades. 


THE   FRANCONIAN,  SALIC   EMPERORS  471 

was  shortly  afterward  taken,1  and  he  received  a  fresh  re-en- 
forcement of  twenty  thousand  Italians,  who  were  led  thither 
by  Dagobert,  archbishop  of  Pisa,  who  was  probably  secretly 
commissioned  by  the  pope,  as  he  was  nominated  patriarch 
of  Jerusalem,  and  before  long  asserted  the  supremacy  of  the 
church  over  the  throne.  Bohemund,  too  weak  to  cope  with 
his  antagonists  in  Antioch,  and  betrayed  by  Raimund  and 
the  Greeks,  was  imprisoned  by  the  sultan  of  Iconium ;  and, 
shortly  after  these  events,  Godfred  expired,  A.D.  1100.  He 
was  succeeded  on  the  throne  of  Jerusalem  by  his  brother 
Baldwin,  who  resigned  Edessa  to  his  cousin  Baldwin  de 
Bourg.  The  patriarch  wished  to  place  Bohemund,  who  had 
just  been  captured  by  the  sultan  of  Iconium,  on  the  throne, 
and  Baldwin,  opposed  by  intestinal  factions  and  beset  by  the 
Turks,2  with  difficulty  retained  the  scepter  in  his  grasp.  The 
glowing  descriptions  of  the  pilgrims  who  had  returned  from 
the  Holy  Land  during  the  previous  year  to  Germany  and 
France,  and  the  sacred  relics  they  bore,  had  again  roused 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  people  to  such  a  pitch  that  fresh  cru- 
sades on  a  still  more  extensive  scale,  having  for  aim  the 
extirpation  of  Islamism  from  the  earth,  were  undertaken. 
Bagdad,  the  Turkish  capital,  was  marked  as  the  first  object 
of  attack. 

The  first  great  armament  consisted  of  Lombards  under 

1  Gerhard  d'Avesnes,  a  Flemish  knight,  whose  descendants  reigned  in  Flan- 
ders, was  here  taken  prisoner,  and  suspended  on  a  cross  over  the  walls,  where 
he  was  exposed  to  the  bolts  of  his  besieging  countrymen,  whom  he  entreated  to 
desist  in  their  attempt ;   but  being  exhorted  by  Godfred  to  suffer  martyrdom  in 
lionor  of  his  Lord,  who  likewise  suffered  on  the  cross,  he  prepared  for  death, 
and  was  pierced  by  ten  arrows.     Some  time  after  the  conquest  of  Arsuf,  he 
suddenly  reappeared,  alive  and  well.     His  wounds  had  not  proved  mortal,  and 
his  life  had  been  saved  by  some  compassionate  Arabs. — Some  of  the  wandering 
Arab  tribes,  attracted  by  the  report  of  his  extraordinary  strength,  visited  God- 
fred, who,  on  one  occasion,  yielded  to  their  importunity,  and  deprived  some  of 
their  camels  of  their  heads  with  one  stroke  of  his  sword ;  and  on  their  express- 
ing surprise  at  finding  him,  although  a  king,  humbly  seated  on  the  bare  ground, 
he  replied,  "The  earth  will  be  my  tomb  when  I  am  dead,  why  then  should  it 
not  serve  me  for  a  seat  while  I  am  alive?" 

2  The  conquest  of  Csesarea  put  the  Genoese,  who  were  among  the  crusaders, 
in  possession  of  the  emerald  dish,  supposed  to  be  the  identical  one  made  use  of 
by  the  Saviour  at  the  last  supper,  and  which,  under  the  name  of  the  Holy  Gracd, 
plays  so  important  a  part  in  the  poetry  of  the  Middle  Ages. 


472  THE   HISTORY   OF   GERMANY 

Anselmo,  archbishop  of  Milan,  of  French  under  Stephen  of 
Blois,  and  of  a  little  troop  of  Germans  under  Conrad,  who 
is  mentioned  by  the  historians  of  the  times  as  master  of  the 
horse  (stabularius)  to  the  emperor,  Henry  IV.  This  army 
reached  Asia  Minor  in  safety,  and  was  joined  by  Raimund 
of  Toulouse,  who  hoped  by  their  aid  to  get  possession  of  An- 
tioch,  which  was  defended  by  Tancred  in  the  name  of  the 
imprisoned  Bohemund ;  but  Anselmo,  impatient  to  carry  out 
his  plans  for  the  reduction  of  Bagdad  and  the  destruction  of 
the  Turkish  empire,  incautiously  led  his  army,  amounting 
to  two  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  men,  into  the  burning 
deserts  and  amid  the  pathless  mountains,  where  their  foot- 
steps were  dogged  by  all  the  Mahometan  princes  of  Asia 
Minor,  who  suddenly,  when  their  numbers  and  strength  were 
reduced  by  the  heat  and  by  famine,  fell  upon  and  cut  them 
to  pieces.  Raimund,  who  had  been  nobly  rescued  from  the 
Turks  by  Conrad,  fled  the  moment  he  beheld  his  benefactor 
in  danger.  His  example  was  followed  by  the  Lombards  and 
the  French,  who,  in  order  to  hinder  pursuit,  left  their  camp 
and  women  unprotected  and  at  the  mercy  of  the  Turks,  who 
thus  added  upward  of  a  thousand  females  to  their  harems.— 
A  second  French  crusade,  under  William,  count  of  Xevers, 
consisting  of  fifteen  thousand  men,  and  an  incredible  num- 
ber of  women,  followed  on  their  footsteps,  and,  falling  into 
a  Turkish  ambuscade,  shared  a  similar  fate.  William  of 
Nevers  escaped  and  returned  half -naked  to  Antioch. — A 
third  and  still  more  numerous  body  of  French  followed, 
commanded  by  Hugh,  the  king's  brother,  who  was  anxious 
to  retrieve  the  dishonor  of  his  former  flight,  and  by  William 
of  Poitou,  duke  of  Aquitania,  a  celebrated  troubadour  (Min- 
nesinger) and  defender  of  the  sex,  who  drew  in  his  train  im- 
mense numbers  of  women  of  every  rank.  This  crusade  was 
joined  on  its  passage  through  Germany  by  Reinhold,  duke 
of  Burgundy,  the  old  Duke  Welf  of  Bavaria,  Dietrich  (Thie- 
mo),  archbishop  of  Salzburg,  the  Margravine  Ida  of  Austria, 
and  numerous  other  Germans,  among  whom  were  many 
noble-born  dames  and  maidens  in  the  Margravine's  suite. 


THE  FRANCONIAN,  SALIC   EMPERORS  473 

This  immense  but  helpless  multitude  reached  Asia  Minor, 
suffered  the  same  hardships  as  their  predecessors,  and  when 
about  to  rush  into  the  river  Halys,  in  order  to  assuage  their 
thirst,  was  suddenly  assailed  by  a  shower  of  arrows ;  a  dread- 
ful confusion  ensued,  which  terminated  in  flight.  William 
of  Poitou,  the  poet  and  defender  of  the  sex,  fled  timidly  away 
and  abandoned  his  fair  followers  to  their  fate,  while  Hugh 
of  France  fought  gallantly  until  wounded  in  the  knee  by  an 
arrow.  He  escaped  only  to  die  of  his  wound.  The  arch- 
bishop, Thiemo,1  was  taken  prisoner  and  tortured  to  death 
for  refusing  to  embrace  Islamism.  "Welf  and  Reinhold  of 
Burgundy  escaped,  and  the  poor  Margravine  Ida  and  her 
women,  abandoned  by  all  their  knights,  were  captured  by 
the  Turks.  It  is  said  that  Ida  afterward  espoused  a  Turk- 
ish prince,  and  became  the  mother  of  the  celebrated  Zengis, 
the  terror  of  Christendom,11  A.D.  1101. — Reinhold  of  Burgundy 
died  of  a  pestilence,  and  the  aged  "Welf  expired  at  Cyprus 
on  his  way  home.  The  rest  of  the  crusaders  collected  under 
the  standard  of  Raimund  of  Toulouse,  and  took  the  city  of 
Tortosa,  where  Raimund  fixed  himself.  Conrad  was  almost 
the  only  one  among  the  pilgrims  who  reached  Jerusalem  and 
fulfilled  his  vow.  Thus  disastrously  terminated  this  great 
expedition,  intended  for  the  destruction  and  conquest  of 
Asia. 

Baldwin  I.  of  Jerusalem  was  now,  A.D.  1102,  thrown 
upon  his  own  resources.  A  battle  took  place  between  him 
and  the  Egyptians,  near  Rama,  in  which  he  was  defeated, 
and  the  noble-hearted  Gerhard  d'Avesnes,  who  had  so  cou- 
rageously resigned  himself  to  a  martyr's  fate,  lost  his  life. 
The  king  and  the  remainder  of  his  army  took  refuge  in 

1  He  was  celebrated  as  a  sculptor  and  modeler. 

2  Itam  comitissam,  matrem  Leopold!,  marchionis  orientalis  unus  de  principl- 
bus  Saracenorum  rapuit  et   impurissime   sibi   matrimonia  copulavit,  ex   eaque 
sanguinem  ilium  sceleratissimum,  utajunt,  progenuit. — Monachus  Weinga/rtensis. 
Other  chroniclers  record  a  similar  legend.     Ida,  nevertheless,  could  not  have 
been  Leopold's  mother,  but  merely  his  stepmother,  as  he  was  thirty  years  old 
at  the  time  of  this  crusade.     It  is  further  certified  by  Eastern  writers  that  Zengia 
was  seventeen  years  of  age,  and  his  father,  Gasimeddaulah  Acsonker,  was  dead 
at  this  very  period. — See  Hormayr,  Tht  Bavarians  in  the  East. 


474  THE   HISTORY  OF   GERMANY 

Rama,  where  they  could  not  long  maintain  themselves. 
Baldwin  was  saved  by  a  grateful  Arab,  an  emir,  whose  wife 
had  fallen  into  Baldwin's  hands,  and,  being  taken  in  labor 
on  the  inarch,  had  been  treated  with  the  greatest  care  and 
kindness.  The  rest  were  either  slain  or  taken  prisoners. 
Conrad,  who  had  prepared  for  his  return  home,  could  not 
refrain  from  joining  the  expedition  against  Rama;  when 
that  city  was  taken  by  the  Arabs,  he  performed  such  prodi- 
gies of  valor  that  the  infidels,  struck  with  wonder  and  ad- 
miration, offered  him  their  hands  in  token  of  peace.1  He 
was  most  honorably  treated,  and  finally  restored  to  liberty. 
The  Egyptians  did  not  follow  up  the  advantage  they  had 
gained;  fresh  misfortunes  were,  however,  in  store  for  the 
Christians;  a  fleet,  brought  by  the  troubadour,  William  of 
Poitou,  was  shattered  by  a  storm,  and  Baldwin  was  dan- 
gerously wounded  with  a  lance  by  a  Moorish  spy.  A  quar- 
rel broke  out  between  Bohemund,  who  had  escaped  from 
prison,'  and  the  Greeks,  who  wanted  the  possession  of  Anti- 
och ;  causing  a  report  of  his  death  to  be  spread,  he  had  him- 
self borne  in  a  coffin  through  the  Grecian  fleet  that  was  on 
the  watch,  and  collected  a  great  army  in  the  "West  for  the 
conquest  of  the  Grecian  empire,  in  reality  the  only  means  of 
securing  that  of  the  Holy  Land,  but  wasting  his  time  and 
strength  before  Durazzo,  a  town  he  was  unable  to  carry,  his 
army  disbanded,  and  he  died  broken-hearted,  in  his  native 
city  of  Tarentum,  A.D.  1105.  The  enterprising  citizens  of 
Genoa  and  Pisa,  who,  with  the  view  of  getting  the  whole 
of  the  trade  of  the  East  in  their  hands,  had  assisted  the 
crusaders  in  the  conquest  of  the  maritime  cities  of  Syria 
(anciently  those  of  Phoenicia),  were  far  more  active  and 
successful.  In  1104,  the  Genoese  already  possessed  the  im- 
portant town  of  Accon  (Ptolemais).  The  siege  of  Tripolis, 
which  had  been  commenced  by  Raimund  of  Toulouse,  lasted 
for  nearly  ten  years.  In  1105,  Raimund  was  besieged  by 

1  Albertua  Aquensis. 

8  By  the  secret  aid  of  a  princess,  who  had  become  deeply  enamored  of  him. 
Another  account  is  that  he  was  exchanged  for  a  princess  who  had  been  captured. 


THE  FRANCONIAK,  SALIC   EMPERORS  475 

the  Turks  in  his  castle  on  the  Pilgrim's  Mountain,  and  was 
suffocated  by  the  smoke  of  the  burning  houses.  His  son, 
Bertrand,  swore  to  revenge  his  fate,  and,  assisted  by  the 
Genoese  and  Pisanese,  laid  siege  to  Tripolis,  which  finally 
fell  into  their  hands  in  1110;  and  an  enormous  library  con- 
tained in  this  city  was  barbarously  burned  by  the  victors.1 
In  the  same  year  Sidon  also  fell.  In  this  siege  the  crusaders 
were  assisted  by  Sigmund  Jorsalafar  (Jerusalemfahrer,  the 
traveler  to  Jerusalem),  a  youth  of  seventeen,  of  remarkable 
beauty,  great-grandson  of  Harald  Haardrade  (who  fell  at 
Stamford),  at  the  head  of  ten  thousand  gigantic  Norwegians, 
armed  with  battle-axes.* — The  Christians  suffered  repeated 
defeats  in  the  interior  of  the  country.  The  Turks  of  Bagdad 
now  rose  up  against  them,  as  the  Egyptians  had  formerly 
done.  Bohemund  had  scarcely  escaped  from  prison,  when 
Baldwin  of  Edessa  was  taken  prisoner.  Tancred  defended 
Antioch  and  Edessa  with  wonderful  perseverance  and 
bravery.  He  died  in  1112;  on  his  death-bed  he  placed  the 
hand  of  his  wife,  Cecilia,  a  daughter  of  the  French  king,  in 
that  of  the  youthful  Pontius,  who  had  succeeded  his  father 
Bertrand  in  the  government  of  Tripolis.  The  following  year 
Baldwin  suffered  a  fresh  defeat,  but  was  rescued  by  Roger 
of  Sicily,  who  governed  Antioch  in  the  name  of  the  youthful 
Bohemund,  the  son  of  Bohemund  I.  Peace,  only  interrupted 
by  slight  disturbances,  endured  for  a  while.  Baldwin  I. 
died  in  1118,  and  was  succeeded  by  Baldwin  de  Bourg,  his 
cousin,  formerly  prince  of  Edessa,  who  had  not  long  before 

1  The  destruction  of  the  great  Christian  library  at  Alexandria,  by  the  caliph 
Omar,  caused  a  great  outcry  among  the  Christiana,  who,  on  taking  Tripoli,  find- 
ing that  the  first  room  in  the  library  merely  contained  Korans,  burned  the  whole 
library,  which  contained  three  hundred  thousand  books,  without  inquiring  what 
the  rest  of  the  rooms  contained.     It  is  probable  that  many  ancient  Greek  works 
lay  here  concealed. 

2  The  Norwegians  still  retained  so  strong  an  impression  of  their  ancient  relig- 
ion that,  on  entering  the  hippodrome  at  Constantinople,  they  believed  that  the 
Grecian  statues,  with  which  it  was  adorned,  were  intended  to  represent  their 
Asen  and  legendary  heroes — Snorri.     Shortly  before  this,  Erich  the  Good  (Eve- 
god)  made  a  pilgrimage  to  the  holy  sepulcher;  he  expired  at  Cyprus,  A.D.  1105. 
The  origin  of  his  pilgrimage  was  curious :  a  singer,  who  had  the  power  of  rous- 
ing every  passion  by  his  art,  had  excited  him  to  such  a  pitch  of  fury  (Verserker- 
wuth)  that  he  slew  several  people,  whose  death  he  afterward  resolved  to  expiate. 


476  THE  HISTORY  OF  GERMANY 

been  restored  to  liberty.  In  1119,  Roger  fell,  opposing  the 
Turks;  in  1123,  Baldwin  II.  was  again  imprisoned  by  the 
Turks;  in  1124,  a  great  Venetian  fleet  arrived,  and  seized 
the  beautiful  harbor  and  city  of  Tyre,  which  the  Venetians 
coveted  on  account  of  its  commercial  advantages.  Bohe- 
mund  II.  fell  in  battle.  Baldwin  regained  his  liberty  upon 
certain  conditions,  but  was  no  sooner  free  than  he  broke  his 
oath,  and  was  ceaselessly  engaged  in  petty  warfare  until 
his  death,  in  1131.  During  his  reign,  two  orders  of  knight- 
hood were  formed  in  Jerusalem;  the  Hospitalers  of  St. 
John,  who  at  first  merely  devoted  themselves  to  the  care  of 
the  sick,  and  the  knights  of  Solomon's  Temple,  or  Templars, 
who  were  bound  by  the  vow  of  celibacy,  exercised  a  spiritual 
office,  and  devoted  themselves  to  unceasing  warfare  against 
the  infidels,  in  which  they  were  afterward  imitated  by  the 
knights  of  St.  John.  Both  of  these  orders  were  filled  by 
Italian  knights,  the  Germans  taking  but  little  part  in  them. 
Unfortunately  for  the  Holy  Land,  by  far  the  greater  part  of 
the  foreign  settlers  were  French,  the  Germans  merely  making 
a  crusade  thither,  and  returning  to  their  native  country. 

The  crusades  were  not  without  influence  in  Europe ;  the 
power  of  the  pope,  the  earthly  representative  of  the  God 
before  whom  all  the  kings  and  nations  of  the  West  bent  in 
humble  adoration,  and  that  of  the  church  founded  by  Greg- 
ory VII.,  were  rendered  absolute  by  their  means;  while  the 
church  was  enriched  by  the  immense  wealth  of  those  who 
fell  in  the  East :  still,  the  change  they  gradually  wrought, 
by  the  introduction  of  new  plants  and  animals,  new  modes 
of  dress,  luxuries  and  manners,  the  novel  and  surprising 
tenets  and  writings  of  the  Greeks  and  Arabs,  tended  so 
greatly  to  enlarge  and  enlighten  the  ideas  of  the  western 
nations,  as,  at  a  later  period,  to  endanger  the  authority  as- 
sumed by  the  popes. 

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